


I Met You in a Dream

by SevenCandlesticks



Category: Apink, B.A.P
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Dreams, F/M, Friendship, Melodrama, Romance, other Kpop artists will make an appearance, platonic DaeJae, slice-of-life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-06-14 01:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 20,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15377904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevenCandlesticks/pseuds/SevenCandlesticks
Summary: What if your only interaction with someone was inside your head? For game programmer Yoo Youngjae, this was precisely the case. Same for the coffee shop employee, Jung Eunji. For only inside their dreams have they met, unaware that the other is real.





	1. The Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This story was born from a random poster graphic I made with Youngjae and Eunji on it. I loved it so much, I decided to make a story for it and post it at Asian Fanfics, which happens to be my most subbed story.
> 
> I am now bringing it here to AO3. This is a very experimental project, with chapters always remaining under 1,000 words in length. I hope you enjoy it~

 

* * *

 It was the same scene as the last. The sky was a faded and warm, dusty orange hue indicating the setting sun. He was inside a well furnished small cabin, it seemed. But the most peculiar sight, or rather, fascinating in all honesty--was the woman in a white summer dress. There was no other presence but hers. The entire room was silent, yet nothing about the atmosphere felt threatening.

The woman looked at him, smiling brightly. "You're here!"

"Uhh..." he felt a little loss for words, he wasn't sure what to say and just laughed nervously. "Y-Yeah, I guess I am."

She walked toward him with elegance. It was the perfect moment, romantic you could say. As they stood before each other face to face, suddenly...

...she whipped out a pair of game controllers in gleeful excitement. "Come on, let's go play something!"

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Youngjae opened his eyes widely, his vision to be met only with the boring, white ceiling and the annoying beeping coming from his alarm clock. He turned over in his bed, slamming the button down to make the terrible noise cease, then rolled onto his back once more with a sigh. "Why do dreams always end at the fun part..."

* * *

 

"You saw her again?" said Daehyun, his best friend and roommate. He was setting up the table for breakfast.

"Yeah." Youngjae replied. "It's the same girl as before...."

"Hey, why do you keep having dreams like that, huh?" Daehyun took a seat, already stuffing food in his mouth. "Sounds a little too romantic for you. That should be my dream. Maybe we should switch bodies, that way I can dream about her."

Youngjae couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head. "Nah, I want to see what happens. The dream ended at the best part..."

"Best part?" Daehyun was intrigued. He leaned over close, curious. "What was going to happen?"

"She came close to me, really close...."

He nodded with wide eyes, listening intently.

"...then she pulled out some controllers so we could play a game, and then I woke up!" Youngjae ruffled up his own hair in frustration. "...I didn't even get to see what we were going to play..."

"Oh..." Daehyun sighed, rolling his eyes and falling back in his chair.

"What?"

"Nothing. I thought it'd be more interesting than that..."

"What do you mean? I missed out on a lot of fun. How come dreams always end when you're about to have fun?"

"Maybe your luck's just bad."

"Probably..." Youngjae hung his head solemnly, taking his fork to proceed eating his breakfast.

Daehyun noticed his friend's depression and tried to offer words of encouragement. "Hey... maybe it means something. Maybe you've met your match."

Youngjae set his fork down, wide eyed. "Match..."

Daehyun nodded with a smile. "Could be."

"Ah, don't be silly..." Youngjae waved it off, continuing with his plate. Daehyun just sighed.

* * *

 

Light shined brightly through the window of a young woman's room. She was sleeping soundly, having the most pleasant dream.

...of course, until the damn alarm started ringing.

"Haaa....!"

Eunji jolted up from her sleep, hair a total mess and eyes wide awake. The moment she took in the familiar surroundings of her bedroom, she whined, falling into her bed and throwing a bit of a tantrum. "Dammit... I finally get to see him again and we don't even get to play ONE GAME!"

Now drenched in a feeling of melancholy due to such a pleasant dream being interrupted, Eunji got ready for breakfast. Today was yet another boring day where she'd have to work at her boring job as a coffee shop employee. Eunji looked over at her cat that was currently occupied grooming itself, but she figured to talk to her anyway about the dream.

"I had that dream again last night...." she started. "I even got to talk to him this time. Everything was going perfect! We were alone, the sun was setting, it was a perfect opportunity to spend some time, but then my damn alarm had to go off." she pouted, really frustrated right now. "....why do dreams always have to end when it's about to get fun?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cover credits; Made by me via GIMP. Youngjae render by katherinesdeath at dA. Eunji render by pikudesign at dA. Background images from Pixabay. Logo made with cooltext.


	2. Dwelling

When did this all start?

Youngjae couldn't quite remember when the dreams started. Not exactly, anyway. It had to be a month, perhaps even two months, when it began. The sky painted by the colours of sunset, the furnished cabin in the middle of nowhere, the beautiful girl in the white dress. Today was the first time they spoke with each other. For all the other times, he'd have only a glimpse of her before waking up. It had to mean something, he thought. Normally, he was more logical and would brush it off... but this was too bizzare a situation to have any other answer.

He's never seen that girl before. Ever. So then why does he keep seeing her in his dream?

"Uhh... Youngjae?"

Daehyun waved his hand in front of Youngjae's face to try and bring him back to reality. He shook his head, as if being broken from a trance. "H-Huh?"

"You've been spacing out like that for the past few days."

"Oh..." is all he had in response.

Daehyun had to laugh. "Oh? That's all you have to say?"

He nodded, slowly getting lost in his thoughts again and staring into nothing. This was really starting to worry Daehyun. He sighed, "Ever since's he been having those dreams...."

* * *

 

"Ohhh... it really sucked, Bomi!"

Eunji whined to her friend and fellow employee that morning, detailing the happenings of last night's dream. 

"What's wrong? Was it a nightmare?" she asked, a bit concerned.

"N-No, but..." she almost felt like crying. "Well, I finally spoke to him for the first time. Everything was perfect... but then the alarm sounded and I woke up before the fun started!"

Bomi raised an eyebrow. "Fun?"

"Mmhmm."

She leaned closer. "What kind of fun?"

"Well, I had a pair of controllers with me and I asked to play a game--"

"Oh..." Bomi fell back in her chair, disappointed.

Eunji's face blushed. "Bomi!"

"What?"

"You were thinking dirty thoughts, weren't you?"

She smirked. "Interpret how you want..."

Eunji waved her finger in front of her face. "Shame on you!"

"Well, as entertaining as you are, we need to get back to work." Bomi tied her work apron on, ready to start the day. "How long have you been having these dreams, anyway?"

"Hmm..." that got Eunji thinking. She really can't remember exactly, it just felt like a long time ago. 

"You're lucky, you know that?" Bomi told her. "I wish I could dream about a cute guy every night."

"It's not  _every night..."_

"Still more often than I dream about stuff like that, which is nearly _never."_

"Sucks to be you, eh?" she teased.

Bomi playfully hit her, causing Eunji to giggle. "Come on, we better get to work."

Eunji nodded, quickly grabbing her apron and tying it on.

"Hey Eunji, what do you plan to do if you see him again tonight?"

She thought for a moment, but the answer was simple. "Make sure we get to play some games!"

Bomi sighed. "You have no imagination..."

 


	3. What's Missing?

Youngjae sat in front of his computer, typing away various codes in a script he was working on. His mind couldn't stay focused however. He kept feeling a block and made so many simple mistakes, you'd think he was a newbie programmer. 

He seethed as his script wouldn't execute, having to go over multiple lines of code until he found the one line that was listed as problematic by the launch program. Sighing and shaking his head, it was simply an  _indent mismatch_  coupled with a typo in one of the variables. "Who are you..." he said to himself, a statement related to a subject completely different from the task at hand. "Where can I find you? Are you even real?"

He said this to himself as he clicked various thing on his work program's GUI and would occasionally clik clak the keyboard whenever he had to enter in something. His eyes and his gestures were tied to his work, but his mind was lost in  _the dream._  Logical conclusions just weren't clicking in this situation, so obviously a seemingly  _illogical_  one would make more sense, right?

_"Maybe you've met your match."_

"Match..." he repeated, remembering Daehyun's words from this morning. Daehyun was more of a romantic when it came to this sort of stuff, whilst Youngjae was a more logical person despite his appearance. But for once in his life, he had to confess Daehyun probably was right about this one. Could it be that his dreams are telling him something? That he'll meet a beautiful girl in some middle of nowhere cabin and... ?

... of course, his thoughts would be interrupted by the irritating ringtone of his cellphone.

Scratching his head in frustration, he picked it up. "Yeah?"

"Yoo Youngjae." it was Himchan, the one in charge of his development team, AKA his boss. 

Sighing, he already knew what this was about. "Yeah, I'm getting to it..."

"You need to have a working demo by the end of the week. You know how the CEO of Ultimate Terror gets about late entries."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Youngjae..." Himchan began to speak in a more concerned, personal tone here. Despite the 4 year age difference coupled with their work position heiarchy, that didn't change that they were indeed friends as well. He was the one who put in a good word for Youngjae to get this job. So of course, if he noticed something off, he'd be concerned. "I noticed you've been off your game. Anything you're not telling me?"

"Ah, nah... it's nothing to worry about, I'll get this done before the final boss comes down on us."

"You know he could probably be listening in on this line."

"Heh. At least my statement sounded more metaphorical, you literally called him--"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... let's forget that." Himchan quickly said. "Listen, you'll be getting the finalised art concepts from Bang Yongguk via e-mail in a couple hours regarding the cover art and logo. Shin Jimin should have voice clips prepared for the main heroine by tomorrow morning, so be sure to implement those in."

"Got it, Boss!"

"Also, don't over work." Himchan warned. "I almost became deaf trying to convince the higher ups to allow you to work at home. So rest for quality work, but please get it done. If all else fails, I might be able to get you a 1 day extension, but that's it."

Youngjae nodded. "I understand. Oh, and..." Youngjae held up a few sheets of paper, reading them over. "I don't mean to insult your writing, but... I feel like this game has something missing."

"Missing? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I have a feeling if we don't figure out what that is, then..."

"Seems you've discovered my problem. I'm not too happy with the story either, and the mechanics need to be polished. But we're the smallest team in the company, if we don't produce anything--"

"Hold a team meeting." Youngjae suggested. "I'll be present too. Let's discuss things, maybe... the day after tomorrow. We'll still have time to make adjustments, and... maybe you should work on getting that extra extension, double it if you can."

And with that, Youngjae hung up. Himchan was a bit surprised on the other end when the line went dead. "Youngjae? Hey, Youngjae! Tch..." Himchan hung up the landline phone, feeling like a headache was about to come on.

"Here's your coffee, Boss!" said Im Nayeon, handing him a steaming paper cup to Himchan. She was the team's proofreader, and unofficially the  _errand girl._

"Thanks," he said, taking the cup. He really needed a jolt right now.

"How's Yoo Youngjae coming with his section of the script?"

Himchan sighed. "I don't know. He seemed frustrated with something. He also noticed the lackluster quality of my writing and said we need to address it."

Nayeon nodded slowly. "Hmm... I did notice something was off, but I was too afraid to say anything."

"Yeah, well, if you have any idea what's missing, be my guest." he told her.

"Sadly, I'm not sure what that is myself."

Himchan looked over his latest draft. "I guess no one does..."


	4. The Secret

The room was bathed in a warm glow as the sun began to set. Youngjae lifted his head out of his arm, finding he had fallen asleep at his desk.

...or was it his desk?

He saw many scattered pieces of paper strewn there that appeared hand written. "These look like Himchan's drafts for the plot..." he said to himself, looking at them. He was sure he had the printed version with him, where did they go?

Youngjae looked around, realising he was in an unfamiliar enviornment. The fancy wood paneling, lucious furnishings... it all seemed strangely  _familiar_ to him. 

Suddenly, in the corner of his eyes he saw the edge of a white dress flail by. Startled, he jumped up, feeling his heart beat like he saw a ghost or something.

"White dress..." realization came upon him. "White dress girl!"

He quickly got out of his seat and ran into the living space. It was there he was greeted by the most familiar scene; the sun setting, open windows, and a girl in a white dress turning to look at him.

"It's you." he said, astonished.

She smiled widely, laughing a little bit. Quickly, she went up to him and grabbed both his hands. "It's you."

"Uh... yeah, yeah, I guess so." That came out rather awkwardly from Youngjae. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation, but that didn't seem to matter.

"Here..." she gently pulled him, leading him to sit down next to her. "Would you like to play a game with me?"

"Game?"

She nodded.

"There's no console here. Or television. Or even---"

"Ohhh.... I guess you're right." she pouted in disappointment.

"What sort of games do you like?" Might as well keep the conversation going.

"Hmmm.... I don't know, I like a lot of types, I think."

"How about RPG?"

"Ah, yes, those can be so beautiful!"

"Beautiful?"

"Mmhmm."

"Could you tell me what makes them beautiful?"

She thought for a moment, then smiled as she nodded. "Rich story."

Youngjae's eyes shot open, and he quickly sat up, finding he had fallen asleep at his computer. Night had already fallen, and when he checked his clock, it was already past 9PM. Sighing, he rubbed his head, mumbling, "That girl was going to give me the secret...."

Just then, the door burst open, revealing Daehyun with a convenient store bag. "Oh, you're still working on that?"

"Was...."

"Oh?"

"I fell asleep at some point...."

Daehyun nodded, setting down his purchases on the kitchen counter.

"I saw her again."

Daehyun stopped, looking at his friend with great interest. "Really?"

"Yeah. We talked a bit on the couch, and she.... she likes RPGs."

Rolling his eyes, Daehyun's interested was immediately lost and he continued pulling things out of his bag. Youngjae didn't notice, he was too fascinated and deep in analysis to really care. "I think she can tell me what's missing."

* * *

 

"Excuse me?"

"Just hear me out--"

Himchan was already laughing at this point, shaking his head as he sat in front of his desk, listening to Youngjae's story. He leaned forward, "Youngjae.... I understand dreams can mean something to a certain extent, but this..."

"I keep seeing her. How do you explain that?"

Himchan had no answer. 

"She said what makes an RPG beautiful is a rich story." Youngjae pulled out Himchan's story summary for the game, tossing them on his desk. "You feel nothing in this. The plot in itself isn't bad, but... it's missing an important element. If I could ask her... maybe we'll find the answer on how to enrich our game."

Sighing, Himchan pulled the papers toward him, seeing a bunch of Youngjae's scribbles all over it. It was like he was trying to dissect every single bit to figure out what's wrong with it. "I still don't believe this, but... you're right, the story we have isn't rich at all. It's pretty generic with a higher focus on function than storytelling, and even that.... needs some polishing."

Youngjae nodded, knowing the game's overall function and mechanics were his responsibility.

"You know, I don't really care how you figure this out." he told him. "I wish you hadn't told me your method, but I'm betting everything on you."

"I think she'll tell me the answer. Even if she's just some form of stress reliever, her existence in my dreams will help me through solving this issue."

"That's really what dreams are for." Himchan said, adjusting in his chair. "Organising our thoughts and finding solutions."

"Mm." Youngjae nodded, though he couldn't help but feel like there was more to it than that. 

* * *

 

Eunji sat upon her bed, slowly petting her cat that curled up soundly on her lap. Her mind couldn't stop thinking about the dream she just had. She saw him.... she saw him again. This time, they even had a conversation. 

_"Could you tell me what makes them beautiful?"_

"Such a random question.... why was he asking that?" she sighed. "I should've given him a better answer."


	5. Help Him

"Bomi!!" Eunji whined, rushing into the coffee shop which she worked with haste. It'd be a half an hour before opening, so they had time to get ready.

Bomi was a little startled by her friend's outburst. "What? What's wrong?"

"I saw him in the dream again, and I feel so useless!" Eunji plopped herself in a nearby chair, pouting.

"Useless? How?"

"I feel like something was troubling him and I have the answer, but I was so vague and generic in my answer. I should've explained myself better!"

"What, did he want dating advice?"

"No!! It was much more important than that!"

Bomi crossed her arms. "And that is...?"

"The secret to a good  _roleplaying game!"_

Sighing, Bomi put her hand to her forehead, feeling as if a headache was coming on. "Nevermind...."

"Really, this is serious! I want to help him!"

"Help him? You don't even know his name. Plus....  _he is a figment of your imagination."_

"But I've seen him so many times, in the same place! That has to mean something!"

She had no answer. While Bomi would love to be logical here, reoccuring dreams is not something people have often. And in Eunji's case, they aren't repeats either... but appearing in the same place, seeing the same person, but different interaction. She was scared to admit it, but perhaps this  _did_  mean something. She wasn't going to admit it out right, though.

"Look..." Bomi pulled up a chair next to Eunji. "Calm down, this isn't the end of the world. If he, uh...  _needs_  more advice from you, don't you think he'll ask the next time you two 'meet'?"

"Yeah..." that realization brought confidence to Eunji. "You're right, I was being silly. Besides, I don't even know all the details about everything, so I wouldn't be of much help anyway. A general question gets general answers."

 _'Oh, Eunji, what am I going to do with you?'_  Bomi thought, sighing. 

* * *

 

Himchan was at his desk, looking over his drafts that Youngjae scribbled over in red gel ink. Youngjae was so adament about finding this missing story element, despite the fact he wasn't even in charge of it. Still, he knew he was right; this story fell flat. The concept seemed OK for a project this size and had a lot of potential, but players would probably feel cheated in the end, like they wasted their time. "It's not a memorable experience..." Himchan put the papers down, feeling a headache from trying to tear the script to pieces--only to come up with nothing.

"Here's your coffee." said Nayeon, setting the cup beside him. "Find anything?"

Himchan shook his head, grabbing the coffee and taking a sip.

"Careful, it's--"

Himchan spat, realising the sudden heat. "Tell me that now?"

"Aheh, sorry..." Nayeon laughed nervously. "So uh... how's Youngjae's mechanics going?"

"I don't know. He's become obsessed with the game's storyline, I won't be shocked if he's abandoned his programming duties."

* * *

 

Youngjae sat at his computer, script opened, having typed  _absolutely nothing._

Frustrated, he started violently scratching his head, almost wanting to smash the keyboard. Probably the only reason he didn't was because Daehyun happened to walk in. "Whoa, you OK?"

He glared at him. "No."

Daehyun stood behind Youngjae, leaning down to see the blank screen. "Hey, it's been 2 hours, usually you'd have at least 300 lines of code by now."

"On a bad day..."

"Maybe you should take a break. Don't force it, or else you'll produce lackluster results."

Youngjae sighed, but nodded. "I think I'll go take a nap..."


	6. Absent

The moment he fell asleep was the same moment he began to dream.

Not just any dream, but  _the dream._

Once again, he found himself waking up in front of a desk that differed from his. Instead of a computer, there were scattered pieces of paper. Instead of the boring, modern interior he was accustomed to, it was fancy wood interior. 

Unlike usual, however, the evening had come. 

"She could be here." Youngjae jumped out of his chair, scouring the entire building. 

She wasn't in the living area. 

He scratched his head in confusion. "This is weird... she's always here."

But this time, she wasn't.

Pacing back and forth, occasionally changing rooms, later frantically running around--he never saw her. This was the same place, but this time,  _he was alone._

"Hey... white dress girl..." his voice raised, nearly pleading. "White dress girl!"

* * *

 

"White dress girl..." he mumbled, a small bit of saliva trickling at the corner of his mouth.

"You don't even know her name?"

"Huh?" Youngjae's eyes opened with a sudden rush of fatigue reminding him he wasn't well rested. He wiped the drool that was at the side of his mouth and yawned. 

"What happened now? You were mumbling 'white dress girl' for the past few minutes." Daehyun told him.

"I was?"

He nodded.

Youngjae sighed, feeling embarrassed he's talking in his sleep now. "I didn't see her."

"So?"

"It was in the same place, Daehyun! She  _had_  to be there! But she wasn't..."

"Maybe she didn't want to see you."

"Very funny..."

* * *

 

"Haaa..." Eunji fell backward onto her bed, exhausted from a long day of work. Not only did she have to work an extra shift, but she had to run some errands before she could get home. "So tired..."

She drifted to sleep, in hopes that she would meet  _him_  again.

But that night, though she dwelt in the same place, she never saw him.

"He isn't here."

She began to go frantic, running around the entire building, only to find that she was alone. Her eyes felt warm, and she almost teared up. Such a beautiful place should not be spent alone.

Yet here she was. 

She was alone there that entire night.


	7. Frustration

"Everyone!"

Himchan had gathered his team for the game project, just as Youngjae had suggested. They were one of the smallest teams in the company, so time was not on their side if they wanted to survive.

Present were the following--

Im Nayeon; resident proofreader and unofficial 'errand girl'. 

Bang Yongguk; concept artist, logo designer, and OST composer. 

Shin Jimin; voice actress for the game's main heroine. 

Yoo Youngjae; main programmer (currently groggy from last night). 

Moon Jongup; 3D character modeler and cinematics director. 

Amber Liu; sound design and mixing. 

And of course, Kim Himchan himself; lead director and story writer of the game. 

Unfortunately, about 3 members could not be present, nevertheless the meeting would go on. They could always be briefed about it later.

"I've assembled all of you via Yoo Youngjae's request." Himchan put his hand out and all eyes fell on Youngjae, who just smiled nervously and waved. 

"As you already know, our demo is due next week... I managed to get a couple day grace period following, but that's all I could stretch." Himchan told them. "How are things so far in your departments?"

Yongguk raised his hand, holding a piece of paper in the other. "I have the game's cover art done, and I've doodled a few ideas for the logo."

"Good. Hand them over to Jongup."

Yongguk turned to Jongup (who was next to him on his right) and gave him the papers to look over. 

"Jimin, what about you?" Himchan asked.

"I already sent my voice files to Youngjae." she told him.

His eyes then shifted to Youngjae. "And?"

"I've...nearly got them all in..." Youngjae scratched his head, his mind trying to focus on work but drifting off to the absence of the white dress girl from his dream. 

"What do you mean? You should've had them all done by now."

"Just let Ken handle it..." he was referring to their assistant programmer. 

Himchan sighed, knowing something was up with him but it wouldn't be appropriate to bring up here. "Alright then, to the purpose of this meeting...." he took a deep breath, picking up his stapled draft of the game's storyline and throwing it onto the table. "I've rewritten this at least 4 times since we conceptualized this project. Youngjae feels something's missing, Nayeon agrees... I do as well. So, I will be e-mailing the rest of you a copy, and before the week ends, tell me if you can find the answer."

"Himchan, I told you how we were gonna find the answer!" Youngjae raised his voice, much to the shock of everyone else.

Himchan really didn't want to deal with this right now. "I know, but this is just a precaution--"

"You don't trust me, do you?"

"I never said that."

"She'll tell me the answer, I know it!"

"No, she will NOT!" Himchan practically yelled those words, leaving everyone at the table frozen stiff. "Youngjae, she's just a dream.... she can't help us. You're frustrated because you know that."

Youngjae stood up, angry now. "Well, _you're wrong._  I may not have seen her last night, but tonight I will. Then I will give you the answer."

Grabbing his stuff, Youngjae abruptly left the room, slamming the door behind him. Everyone was practically speechless and Himchan fell back in his chair, not sure what he was going to do with him.

"What's up with him?" Amber asked.

"Is he ill?" Jongup was worried. 

"Stressed... he's stressed..." is all Himchan could say. "He'll get over it. Just... please God, let him get over it..."


	8. Note

Youngjae had it.

Sure, fine, he agreed that maybe he sounds a little crazy, but something stirred in his gut that the answer would be found inside his dreams. And it wasn't just his gut either, but his  _heart._

Speed walking angrily down the hall, he bumped into one of his colleagues whom was headed toward the meeting room. It was Vernon, in charge of English translation. "Crap, I missed the meeting, didn't I?"

"No, you didn't." With that, Youngjae continued his angry stride down the stairs.

"What's wrong with him?" Vernon said to himself. He quickly proceeded to the meeting room, apologising for his late arrival. "By the way, what was up with...?"

"Just..." Himchan put his hand up, then exhaled. "Let's not worry about it. He needs....  _rest._  Please take a seat, you didn't miss much."

"Seems like I missed a lot..." he said to himself, sitting where Youngjae was.

"Nayeon, take note of the absent teammates."

Nayeon took her clipboard and quickly wrote it down. "Yes, sir."

* * *

 

_6, 2, 8, 1, 2, 4..._

_Denied._

Youngjae slammed his fist into the wall, having entered the passcode at least ten times now. He punched in the code again and again, but it kept saying denied, denied, denied. "Dammit!" he screamed, putting his back against the wall and sliding into a sitting position. "Can't get into my own apartment...."

Either the number pad was screwed up or he unknowingly keeps hitting a number off. More likely the latter, but he was tired. He's really  _had it_  today. Daehyun wouldn't be back for another couple hours, and lately the landlord wasn't around when you needed her.

He was tired now.

So tired, he drifted off to sleep...

* * *

 

Again.

He was here again.

Surrounded by fancy furnishings, he slowly awoke with his head resting in his arms that was propped up on the wood desk before him. There was Himchan's story draft, scattered all over the table, complete with the red marks Youngjae had scribbled himself in an attempt to solve the emptiness himself. "Nn..." he pressed his hand to his forehead, confused a moment until he realised the familiar surroundings.

His eyes grew wide. "I have to find her."

Jumping out of the chair, he surveyed the mysterious cabin thoroughly, but to no avail. She wasn't present once again. Sighing in absolute defeat, Youngjae fell back in the chair of that wooden desk and rubbed both his hands over his face. "It's no use..." his eyes fell on the desk, eyeing all the scattered pages that layered the desk. That's when an  _idea_  struck.

Quickly, he grabbed all the scattered papers and stacked them neatly in order. Setting it aside, he grabbed a blank sheet of paper along with a pen, writing down a message for the girl to find.

_Please find the answer to what's missing._

_\- Youngjae_

 


	9. A Name

_Please find the answer..._

Youngjae mumbled these words as he slowly came to. He heard a voice echo in the distance, "Hey.... hey, Youngjae?"

"What...?"

"What the hell are you doing, sleeping outside the apartment? Don't tell me you forgot the passcode."

"Huh?!" Youngjae's eyes shot open, quickly getting to his feet. "How long was I out?"

Daehyun shrugged. "I don't know, I just found you like this."

He sighed, putting his hand to his forehead and mumbling something incoherently to himself. "I did it..."

"Did what?"

He smiled warmly. "Nevermind. Doesn't matter."

"You're weird." Daehyun went up to the number pad, punching in the passcode with ease, and the door unlocked. "What are you doing home anyway?"

"Eh, I prefer not to talk about that..."

* * *

 

Eunji was depressed.

So much so she didn't come into work that day. Bomi had called her several times, leaving numerous texts and messages, but Eunji ignored them all. She laid flat on her bed, face in her pillow, sulking. 

Where was he? She really wanted to spill her guts out about how horrible she was feeling, but Bomi really wasn't the person to talk about this situation. Not that she's a bad friend or anything, she's just been skeptical about these dreams ever since she started talking about them... that's not what she needs right now.

Sighing, Eunji's energy was just about lost until she drifted to sleep....

* * *

 

The sofa.

She found herself awakening on a soft, expensive looking sofa. Her surroundings were very familiar. However, she simply frowned. "I'm alone again, aren't I?"

Eunji was about to lay her head back down, hoping to awake to the real world, until her eyes fell upon the desk several feet away. "Huh..." she said. "I don't think I ever explored this room before."

She got up, slowly walking up to the table. Might as well do a little investigating while she was here, it's less boring that way. There she discovered a pile of papers, neatly stacked, with a note taped to it. It was handwritten, with a simple sentence; "Please find the answer to what's missing."

But that wasn't what really caught her attention.

"Youngjae..." she read softly. "Is that your name?"

She pulled up a chair and sat down, grabbing the nearest blank sheet and writing her own note in response.

_It'll take time, but I'll find the answer._

_\- Eunji_


	10. So Close, Yet...

"Eunji!"

Bomi spoke this in a rather scolding tone when Eunji came into work the next day. "How come you didn't come to work yesterday, huh? I was worried sick! And boy, did the manager really give it to me."

"Sorry..." is all Eunji said, grabbing her apron. She sighed happily as she tied it on. "Hey, Bomi?"

"Yes?"

"Ah, nevermind..."

Bomi sighed. "Please don't do that to me again. I really was worried about you. How are you feeling?"

She nodded to herself before answering. "I'm alright. No need to worry about me anymore." she spun around, ready to take on the day. "I'll get what we need in the back kitchen while you open up."

Eunji did just that, leaving Bomi with a bit of frustration. She disappears, and now she is as happy as ever? This isn't right. Not that she doesn't like seeing her best friend happy, it's just that after the fiasco yesterday, it seemed rather weird. 

Walking over to the entrance, the moment she flipped the sign to "open", she was startled when the door open.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" apologised the young man.

She laughed slightly, catching her breath. "Aha, don't worry Daehyun, please come in. You're our first customer~"

"Thanks." he smiled as he walked in, feeling quite special he was the first one here. Bomi couldn't help but feel a bit aflutter herself; perhaps it was her turn to have a lovely fate. "So um... what brings you here so early?"

"My roommate..." he shook his head, the tone of his voice frustrated. "Hey, where's Eunji?"

"E-Eunji?" her heart sank a little when he asked. "She's in the back kitchen, setting things up."

"Always ahead in her work."

"Pfft, not really... you should have seen her yesterday. I had to take the heat of the manager because of her."

"Really?" this piqued his interest. "What happened?"

Bomi crossed her arms. "She didn't show up for work."

Eunji quickly ran out, fuming. "I was sick!"

"Oh really? Why couldn't you have told the boss that?"

"Ah well..." she scratched her head in embarrassment. Daehyun could only laugh, "Only you, Eunji."

She puffed out her cheeks in a pout. That caught Daehyun off guard, and for a moment, he was in a daze. She looked at him strangely, "What?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing..." he laughed nervously. "Just get me my usual, then I have to head for my job."

"You got it~" Eunji quickly got ready, whipping up Daehyun's usual order. He often came here in the morning before going to work and has got quite aquainted with both the girls. "Here you go, nice and fresh."

"Thanks." he took the cup, almost burning himself. "You weren't kidding..."

Eunji laughed, beaming a bright smile. "I told you it was _fresh."_

"Yeah, I'll be careful next time."

"Oh, there was something I left unfinished in the back, sorry." Eunji quickly ran back there to complete her business. Daehyun had his eyes on her the whole time. Bomi quickly swooped in, taking a chair across from him. "So what's going on with your roommate?"

Daehyun's mood quickly changed to that of an annoyed one when that was brought up. "I think his workload has gotten to his head."

"Why do you say that?"

"He claims this girl will find the answer."

"Ohoho..." Bomi's smile beamed in amusement. "Who's he smitten over?"

"That's the thing..." Daehyun sighed, hesitant to even tell her. "He keeps seeing this girl in--"

"I'm done!" Eunji appeared seemingly out of nowhere, startling the both of them. "Ah, sorry, did I interrupt anything?"

"Ah, no, you're fine." Daehyun told her. He then looked toward Bomi, getting out of his seat. "I better catch the bus or I'll be late."

"Wait, Daehyun!" Bomi tried chasing after him. "You forgot to pay!!"


	11. The Problem

Almost the entiriety of Himchan's game team were present, either with papers or a laptop and headphones in front of them. They were all hard at work in finalising the demo, which was due next week. Jongup was testing his models for any glitches, Yongguk was going over his concept art, Jimin was mentally rehearsing her lines, and Vernon was almost done translating the game's GUI and in-game tutorial text. Ken finally showed up and was finishing up adding what Jimin had recorded into the game whilst Amber was getting frustrated with trying to call up the soundtrack's main vocalist.

"Ugh, she's not picking up!" Amber hit the  _end call_  practically using all the strength in her thumb. 

"I think it's time we look for a new vocalist." Vernon suggested. 

"We don't have time for that." Himchan stated. 

"Hey Amber," Vernon turned to look at her. "You have a nice voice, why don't--"

"Ahahahaha!" she literally broke up laughing. "My voice doesn't suit this song. We need something lighter."

"I could do it." Nayeon volunteered.

"Too cutesy."

Nayeon pouted, plopping back in her chair. 

"The opening theme is of least importance right now. It's just a demo. As long as we get the main point across, the project will be approved and a budget alloted." Himchan said. 

"The story's still suffering though..." Youngjae spoke up, after being quiet this whole time.

"Yeah, well until you've reached the conclusion why, the overall theme and mechanics will have to suffice."

"That's not--"

"Look, it just has to impress  _Psy_  enough that he'll let us take some of his damn hoard to make this game."

"It'll take a lot more than that to get it past the _final boss."_ Youngjae muttered. 

The actual name of whom they were referring to, aka the company's CEO, was Park Jaesang. They just called him 'Psy' in short for  _psycho_  due to his ridiculous demands and tight schedules. Despite this, no one can deny the success of his company and so far only the best games have gotten through. It's a record streak he doesn't want to end, but it makes it a lot harder for smaller teams under the label. 

"I can have all my lines done by tomorrow." Jimin stated. 

"Good, good... we're making progress..." at least Himchan could experience some relief. "We're really cutting this close."

"By the way, I have found the problem." Youngjae stated. "Or rather,  _she_  did."

This immediately grabbed everyone's attention, and heads turned to him immediately. 

"She?" Ken seemed a bit confused. "Sorry, I wasn't here last time--"

"Your fault." Himchan scolded. He then looked at Youngjae. "Continue."

"The problem lies.... in the  _heroine_ herself."


	12. Solutions

"They agreed with your solution?" said Daehyun, pouring himself a cup of juice. Both of them were now off work and just lounging about their apartment. 

"Not my solution,  _hers."_  he corrected. "Anyway, yeah... they did. Himchan says despite our time crunch, perhaps we can manage enough depth to her character for the demo. Poor Jimin has to re-record her lines though... she wasn't too happy about that."

"So basically the problem was a bland lead?"

He nodded. "A game like this needs a character you enjoy playing. She said the story lacked because her character lacked. The entire game's idea was fine. I guess it was hard to pick up on since nobody really thinks of developing playables much, but in something a little more story-rich, you should."

"Well, at least now you can focus on your actual position as a programmer, right?"

"Yeah, I have a lot of mechanics to polish. With Psy's deadline, I feel like we're in a game jam. That leads to another problem..."

"What?"

Youngjae sighed. "Amber cannot get in contact with our singer. Himchan says we can get along without it, since the game itself is most important, but I see her point in wanting this to feel like a complete show of this game, even something as small a detail as that."

"Singer..." Daehyun snapped his fingers. "Your vocalist is supposed to be a girl, right?"

"Yeah..."

"I know someone with an incredible voice. She loves games, too. I'm sure she won't say no."

"Really?" this surprised Youngjae.

"Yeah, really! Eunji can sing, I promise."

He paused hearing that name. "Eunji...?"

Daehyun looked at him weird. "What?"

"Ah, nothing." he waved it off, slightly smiling to himself. "Arrange a meeting for us so I can tell her about the project. I'm sure Amber will be thrilled we found a replacement."

Daehyun gave a thumbs up. "Sure thing."


	13. Memory

The next morning, Daehyun made good on his promise and was on his way to see Eunji to offer the position of vocalist for Youngjae's game project. This was a perfect opportunity, he thought. For Eunji to show her voice.

He remembered the first time he heard it....

 ...the voice that made him  _fall in love._

It was just about time for Daehyun's shift to end that night. He worked at a local karaoke building, and as soon as he clocked out, he grabbed his backpack and was headed for the exit. But he didn't go home that night.

As he walked down the hall, he happened to stop in his tracks when he saw a girl all alone in one of the karaoke rooms. The door was left open, and she sat there with her head lowered. That didn't seem right, and he felt bad for her, so he decided to come in. "Miss...? We're going to close in about an hour."

"Nnn.." she tried not to cry, but he could hear her sniffling.

"Uh, miss...?"

"He ditched me." she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "He was supposed to be here. But he never came. He promised... how could he do this to me?"

Well, this was an awkward situation. Part of him wanted to say sorry and go home, but another couldn't help but desire to comfort her. Giving into the latter, he sat next to her. "How long have you been waiting?"

"2 hours."

His eyes widened. "2 hours?" that made him seethe. "What an asshole..."

That just caused his blood to boil. How can a guy do this to a girl? That just sucked.

The girl continued weeping. He couldn't just leave her like this. He looked around, impatiently tapping his leg. What should he do? He really wanted to go home, but... "U-Um, hey. I just clocked out, so... I wouldn't mind staying here until the place closes. Help you make use of this room so it's not for nothing."

She lifted up her head. "You'd do that?"

"Yeah. Oh, I'm Jung Daehyun by the way." he offered his hand.

She smiled, taking it. "Jung Eunji."

He laughed a bit. "Same family name."

"Ahaha, yeah. Hey, maybe we're long lost relatives."

"I sure hope not..."

She made a sour face. "Why?"

His cheeks burned in embarrassment, and he started scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, nevermind."

"Pfft..." Eunji just laughed it off. "Come on, let's sing!"

She got off the couch and started the karaoke machine. "How about a duet?"

He took a mic. "Sure."

Eunji chose one of her favourite ballads. The man sings first, so Daehyun began. She was blown away the moment he opened his mouth. A prideful smile came open his lips as soon as he finished, then nodded toward her. Nodding back, she brought the mic up to her mouth.

What he heard was like a blessing to the eardrums. He was so mesmerised and dumbfounded, he almost missed his cue for the next part. Eventually, they would sing together, their voices melding in a beautiful harmony. 

It was a night he would never forget.

That's why, when the next day, he found her working at the coffee shop he frequents, he couldn't help but wonder... could this be fate? 

Bomi remembered that day well, too. She was responsible for getting Eunji that job. She thought it'd be fun at first, getting to work with her best friend. But the way Daehyun looked at her caused a small part of her to forever regret that decision. Like any small chance for him to notice her simply vanished.


	14. Falter

Daehyun entered the coffee shop, first customer there. He's been getting lucky lately. Bomi was already hard at work, scrubbing the tables. When she saw Daehyun, she smiled and waved. "Good morning~"

"Morning." he walked up to her, hands in his pockets. "Hey, do you know where Eunji is?"

She frowned, muttering. "You always want to see Eunji..."

"Sorry, what?"

"Ah, nothing. She's over there." she pointed.

He smiled. "Thanks."

She watched as he walked over to her, causing her to sigh.  _'It's fine, Bomi,'_  she told herself.  _'Just focus on your work. You're on the clock.'_

"Hey Eunji." Daehyun greeted.

"Hm? Oh! Hi Daehyun." she replied. "You seem cheery this morning."

"Yeah, actually, there's--"

"Oh, hold that thought a moment!" Eunji quickly pulled out a notepad and started jotting something down. "Hnng... I should have told Youngjae this earlier."

Daehyun almost felt his heart stop. "Youngjae?"

"Huh? Oh, he's someone reoccuring in my dreams." Eunji suddenly dropped her pen when she said that, feeling stupid for blurting that out. 

He swallowed. "What do you mean by  _reoccuring?"_

Eunji sighed. No way of getting out of it now. Hopefully he won't tease her like Bomi. "Okay, well... I often dream of being in this place and meeting this guy. He asked me what makes a good RPG, but lately we haven't met each other, so we've had to write notes and stuff. He thanked me for the solution about the heroine, says his boss is already implementing it, can you believe that?"

 _Yeah, I can._ That's what he was thinking, but he was frozen in place, unable to utter a word. Eunji took that reaction as one of disbelief, and so she looked down to the floor. "You don't believe me either, huh?"

His prolonged silence caused Eunji to sigh. She then remembered he had something he wanted to tell her. "Eh, sorry for interrupting you with my nonsense then! What was it you wanted earlier?"

He stumbled a bit with his words. "I, uh, it's too early. To say. I'll let you know when I have more details."

"Oh. Okay." she just shrugged and got back to work.

As Daehyun left, Bomi could sense something was up. Why did he react that way?

* * *

 

Youngjae was at his computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard. He was actually feeling productive. It's been sometime since he finished this many lines of code. This should help the game function better.

The door opened, quickly slamming back shut as Daehyun entered the apartment.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be at work?" Youngjae said, not taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"Oh, um, I just forgot something. I'll be out of your hair soon." he replied.

"Tch, unlike you."

"Just focus on your own work." Daehyun slid open a closet and pulled out an overcoat. "You seem to be out of your slump."

"Yeah, Eunji finding the answer really removed a lot of stress for me."

His eyes widened and he froze midway of throwing on his jacket. At this moment, Youngjae also stopped typing. "Oh. Hey, weren't you going to ask that girl about singing for us?"

"On second thought, maybe you'll want somebody else." 

"Huh?" Youngjae put his hand to his face and sighed. "Figures, you probably just made her up to get my hopes high. Don't offer your help if it's a joke."

"Sorry."

A pang of guilt tugged at Daehyun's chest. What the hell was he doing? This wasn't like him at all, but he couldn't bring himself to stop either. He just said nothing and headed out the door to go to work.


	15. Overtime

It was late that night in the office.

Everyone had gone home, except for Himchan. Despite Youngjae's "revelation" of what was wrong with their project, they still had to get this over with in a time crunch. Himchan could only hope that his revisions weren't sloppy.

"Aren't you going home?"

Startled at the sudden voice, Himchan dropped a slew of papers and turned in his chair, only to find Im Nayeon was still hanging around. "O-Oh, I'm sorry!" she bowed in apology. 

He sighed, burying his head in his hands. "I thought  _you'd_  be home already..."

"I was going to, but I got worried seeing you alone in the office all by yourself." she admited.

"Just getting some last minute revisions in..." he told her, gathering up all the scattered papers and trying to place them back in order. It was obvious he could hardly stay awake with his zombie like movements.

"Um, do you need me to drive you home?" Nayeon offered. "You don't seem in a condition to--"

"Then how will you get home?" he looked up at her, trying to keep his eyes open.

"I'll take the bus after I drop you off in your car?"

Himchan glanced at his watch. "The last bus comes in about 10 minutes. You should catch it if you don't want to be stranded."

"But sir--"

"I'm fine. I'll sleep here if I have to." 

Nayeon sighed. Himchan was always stubborn during these tight deadlines. Determined, but stubborn. She could tell he was under a lot of stress. "There's sandwiches in the fridge if you get hungry." she told him, adjusting the strap of her purse. "I'm leaving now."

Himchan listened as the _clik clak_ of her shoes faded away, followed by the gentle shutting of the office door. He turned in his chair, looking at the mini refrigerator that was by the water dispenser as he began realising his hunger. 

Only haflway out of his seat, he could hear his phone buzz with a text notification. It was from Youngjae.

{ I know you're awake. Go to sleep or your revisions WILL suck. }

"Tch..." Himchan put his phone down, only to smile and laugh slightly. "Not when you're alone in the final boss's lair."


	16. Just One More

Bomi rested her chin on her hand, supported by her elbow propped up on the front counter in deep thought. She couldn't stop thinking about Daehyun's weird reaction earlier.

"I'm going!" Eunji declared, grabbing her purse from the back room after closing up shop. They were short staffed that day and the boss called them up to just shut the place down for the night. Many employees are about to get scolded. 

As Eunji was about to leave, she couldn't help but notice her friend in a daze. "Bomi?"

"Hmm?"

"Uh, well... your shift is done too, right?"

"Oh, right." Bomi's mind was definitely somewhere else.

Eunji figured perhaps it was due to the overtime they had to work today, so she shrugged it off and wished her goodnight.

"Wait!"

Eunji froze in place before turning around. "Yeah?"

"Did Daehyun....." Bomi paused a moment. "....uh earlier, did he seem kinda strange to you?"

"Not really, why?" Eunji found that to be an odd question.

"Oh... okay then." she then forced a smile and waved to her friend. "Have sweet dreams."

Eunji giggled, fiddling with her purse strap. "I hope so~"

Turning around, Eunji made her exit, causing the bell to ring as the door shut behind her. Sighing, Bomi just rested her chin on her hand again in deep thought, unable to get today's events out of her mind. "I should go home but eh..." she said to herself.

After a few minutes, the sound of the bell ringing brought Bomi back to reality.  _'Crap, I forgot to lock the door! Dammit Eunji, did you forget to switch the sign to CLOSED?'_

"I'm sorry, but we're clos---" Bomi immediately stopped in her tracks when she saw who entered. "D-Daehyun..."

His head was hung low, he seemed out of it. He looked at Bomi with a blank face. "Hey Bomi, just the usual for me."

Mindlessly, he took a seat by the window, oblivious to the fact how dead it was. Bomi quickly locked the door and switched the sign to CLOSED so nobody else would enter. The loud  _click_  from the lock caused Daehyun to turn back. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, but we closed early." she told him.

"So you're locking me in here?"

She smirked, crossing her arms. "I have time for one more customer. _Only one."_

That statement managed to put a smile on Daehyun's face, even if it was faint. "That favortism will get you in trouble."

"Nah, my boss wil be quite happy. You swindled me last time, so I'm charging you double." she tapped his back before quickly running into the kitchen.

Daehyun's eyes widened in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean you're charging me double?!"


	17. Sign Up

It was morning.

Youngjae walked into the kitchen with a blank mind as his brain was still processing the fact that he was awake and no longer sleeping. Daehyun was already at the table, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Up already?" Youngjae asked, pouring a bowl for himself on the counter.

"Yeah, got to be at work on time." he replied. "Sleep fine?"

Youngjae paused a moment. Should he tell him he dreamt of that Eunji girl again? Probably not. He wasn't in the mood making conversation with Daehyun considering the false hope he gave him yesterday. So he just didn't say anything and took a seat across, robotically shoveling the cereal into his mouth.

"Hey Youngjae!" Daehyun waved his hand in front of his face, but Youngjae didn't even flinch and continued to robotically eat his cereal. Daehyun sighed, "Don't you have to get ready for your company's convention?"

Youngjae dropped his spoon. "Convention?!"

"Yeah. Aren't today demo sign ups for the game testing festival or whatever?"

That's right. This was the very reason finishing the demo on time was of upmost importance. Psy's grade wasn't all that mattered, but how well it performed amongst random gamers. "Dammit, I forgot!" Youngjae quickly jumped from his seat, ignoring the remainder of his cereal, grabbing a beige trench coat from the closet.

"Hey, you shouldn't waste food!" Daehyun shouted.

Youngjae just glared at him before taking off. 

Daehyun sighed, rubbing his hands against his face. 

* * *

 

"Okay, what was your name again?" Im Nayeon asked, sitting down on a metal chair with a laptop in front of her. 

"Choi Junhong." the tall boy standing in front of her answered.

"Mmhmm." Nayeon quickly typed that in. "Would you like to use a gamer handle?"

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, can you put me down as Zelo?"

"Sure." she added the information and immediately her printer spat out a sticker badge. "Don't forget to wear this on your shirt or you can't participate."

He smiled in excitement receiving the paper. "Got it, thanks!"

Nodding, as the boy left, she called out, "Next!"

"Hi, my name is Jung Eunji. I would like to sign up for the demo testing."

"You're in luck. I have one spot left." Nayeon told her. "Would you like to use a gamer handle?"

Eunji thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Just Eunji is fine."

"Okay." As Nayeon was about to type, Eunji quickly put her hand out. "O-On second thought---"

Nayeon froze, staring up at her, causing Eunji to bite her lip in embarrassment. Still, she better spit out an answer if she made such a scene. "Dream Girl."

Nayeon nodded her head slowly as she typed that in, then handed her the sticker badge. "Don't forget to wear this or you can't get in."

"Yeah, thank you." Eunji quickly scurried out of the crowded place, bumping shoulders with a man in a beige trench coat. "Oh, sorry!" she quickly bowed before dashing off. Youngjae was hardly able to get a glance at her.

Making his way through the crowd, he approached Nayeon whom was in the middle of closing her laptop. "Good morning. Already full?"

"For this time slot, yeah." she replied.

Youngjae looked around before focusing his gaze back at her. "Where's Himchan?"

Nayeon frowned. "Guess."

* * *

 

Up in the office, Himchan was completely wiped. At some point, his energy completely drained, leaving him to fall forward onto the desk and doze off to sleep in mere seconds. Due to how busy everyone was downstairs, no one had been up here yet.

"Mr. Kim?"

"I can drive myself!" he shouted, jolting up. Immediately, he realised how achy his head felt from lying on such a hard surface all night. Not only that, but it was light out. Feeling ashamed of himself, he groaned, turning his attention to the voice that awoke him.

Standing there was a woman still in the startled position, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a clipboard in the other. It was Psy's secretary, Jun Hyoseong. Both their eyes stared widely at the other, and Himchan felt even more embarrassed. He quickly wiped the side of his mouth where drool had been and started to rearrange his desk. "Ms. Jun, uh, good morning...."

"Did you.... fall asleep here?" she asked cautiously.

Himchan facepalmed in defeat and looked at her hopefully. "Please don't tell him."

"My lips are sealed." she then set her cup of coffee down in front of him. "I think you need this more than I do. The sign ups began an hour ago. Don't worry, your team has everything covered."

"Thanks...." Himchan took the cup and started drinking. What an embarrassing mess he was this morning.


	18. Selfish

Daehyun was still at the apartment, sitting alone in silence. He really should be getting ready for work, but his mind was too preoccupied. Youngjae seems really pissed at him. Sure, he'll eventually talk to him again, but this game is really important to him. Every single aspect. Of course he'd be mad at what he did. And if he knew Daehyun's deeper feelings, he'd be absolutely livid. 

Is this Eunji the same? He thought. Both of them mentioned reoccuring dreams. Both of them uttered each other's names. There was no mistaking. That girl Youngjae has been conversing with had to be _Jung Eunji._ He was certain of it. After all, it was confirmed last night....

"So, what's up?" Bomi sat across from Daehyun as soon as she prepared his order in front of him.

"You still aren't explaining to me why I have to pay double." he eyed her sharply.

She smirked before bursting into laughter. "Last time you came in here, you forgot to pay. You owe me."

"Oh...." now he felt stupid, hanging his head low. He then noticed an extra item in front of him. "Hey, I didn't order this."

"I know. I just thought you'd like some cheese cake." Bomi told him. "You like cheese cake, right?"

"You're trying to suck more cash out of me."

She shrugged. "Fine, if you don't want it~" she took the small plate and fork and began eating it herself, making "mmm" noises. Daehyun eyed her in shock, "Wait.... was that _free?"_

She eyed him deviously, speaking with her mouth full. "Hmm, I dunno. Maybe~"

His mouth began to water and he suddenly felt regretful. "G-Give me some.... that was for me anyway."

As he tried to grab it from her, she kept pulling it away. This was all too amusing for her. Daehyun was getting tired of it. "Aw, come on, Bomi! I'm already having a bad day!"

That struck her. She gently placed the plate down and pushed it back toward him. "I.... sorry."

"No.... it's...." he buried his head in his hands. "Nevermind."

"Daehyun." Bomi's tone became concerned. "You were acting.... strange.... earlier. I-If you need someone to talk to, I--"

"It's my roommate." he suddenly said.

Bomi raised an eyebrow. "Roommate?"

Daehyun sighed. "Look, what I'm about to say is going to sound insane. But please keep it between us, you promise?"

She paused a moment, then nodded. "Of course. Tell me anything that's on your mind."

"I came today to ask Eunji if she could sing for Youngjae's game. You remember I told you he worked for a high tier gaming company, but the team he's apart of is very small and starting out. Their singer appears to have ditched them and they're in a bind right now. I thought Eunji could help."

"Oh, Eunji is an excellent choice! She'd love to." Bomi commented.

Daehyun bit his lip, feeling terrible for what he was going to reveal next. "I can't though."

"Huh? What do you mean you can't?"

"Because.... then she'll... finally meet him."

Bomi wasn't sure what to say. This was starting to get complicated. "What do you mean? I thought they've never--"

"Eunji is responsible for saving Youngjae's game!" Daehyun said, slightly shouting. "He.... he's been seeing her. In his dreams. I think Eunji has too."

At that moment, silence swept over them. Bomi froze with wide eyes, now fully aware of the source of Daehyun's stress. "So her dreams..." she whispered to herself. "...are really...?"

It was quiet for a few more moments. Bomi was shocked. Eunji was in contact with a real person this whole time. But with Daehyun's roommate? What's worse is....

"You...." Bomi swallowed before continuing. "So you... are sabotaging it?"

Daehyun clenched his fist, unable to answer. 

She spoke again, only with a bit more passion. "You're selfish, you know that? Eunji has experienced both stress and joy with these dreams, and you're going to keep her apart simply because the person she's been meeting is your roommate? What kind of a bastard friend are you?!"

"I wasn't thinking! Just please.... don't tell her."

At this point, her eyes were full of angry tears. "Why, so you can have your chance to snag her? When she clearly has interest in somebody else?"

"I-I'm not--"

"Let Youngjae have his chance, the world doesn't revolve around YOU."

Daehyun slammed his hands on the table, standing up. "I never said it did! When did I say that? I don't feel right about what I did either, I know it's wrong, okay?"

"But why does it have to be her when _I'm right here!"_

"Nn...!" Daehyun staggered back. What did she say?

Bomi gasped, horrified at letting those words slip. She covered her mouth and her entire body was shaking. She couldn't look at him anymore. "I won't say anything.... just leave and forget what you heard. We didn't talk. We didn't talk...." she shook her head as she choked out those words.

Daehyun swallowed. "Bomi...."

"Just leave!" she begged. "Don't worry about the bill, I'll cover it."

Not wanting to argue, Daehyun quickly unlocked the door and exited as fast as he could. But after proceeding several feet away, he turned back to take one last glance at her in the window.

The incident kept repeating his head. He felt too sick to come into work today after what happened last night. Bomi must hate him. Youngjae has every right to as well. And Eunji.... he doesn't deserve her, not after what he's done.

"I really am selfish...." 


	19. Go Home

"You should really slow down."

Hyoseong said this in concern to Himchan as she took a seat next to him in the office. 

He just shook his head as he took a bite out of his sandwich he got from the fridge Nayeon left. 

She gave him a look. "You didn't even go home last night."

He nodded mindlessly. "I should take a shower."

Hyoseong sighed, lightly knocking her own forehead in frustration. "Ohhh... what is wrong with you? Just go home already. I'll make an excuse for you. Just please get some rest."

"I have to make sure Psy gives us our budget."

"He will, just sleep!"

"Can't."

He really has turned into a zombie!

"Ugh, you've always been like this as long as we've worked here!" she whined. The two started around the same time in lower departments before quickly ascending to their current positions. Himchan has an admirable work ethic and often puts his team's needs over his own... but sometimes however, _that was precisely the problem._  

Hyoseong's protests fell upon deaf ears as Himchan continued to robotically eat his sandwich, staring into empty space. 

She pouted. "Go. Home. _Now."_

"Can't."

"I'll tell Psy."

"No you won't."

"I can!"

"You won't."

"Shouldn't you take that shower?"

"Later."

Hyoseong gritted her teeth and groaned loudly. Frustrated, she grabbed the back of his chair and pulled him away from his desk with all her might. However, in her haste, she lost her footing with a bit of a spin and nearly fell backwards. "Nn... ahh!!"

"Hyoseong!"

So much happened in that brief moment. 

In an attempt to keep balanced, Hyoseong reached her arm toward the desk--only to cause the coffee to spill, and the force of its fall splashed some of the hot liquid toward her face. In a quick reflex, Himchan luckily caught her and was cradling her in his arms.

The two were silent, wide eyed, and breathing heavily in their sudden shock.

"Are you okay?" Himchan asked, moving some of her hair from her face to make sure she didn't get scorched.

"Y-Yeah....I'm fine." she assured him. "It was just a tiny splash."

"Oh, good...." he sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, Youngjae was storming down the hall like a soldier on a mission with Nayeon in tow. He just couldn't believe Himchan would be so foolish to sleep over at work. "Can't even follow his own damn advice." he muttered angrily.

Grabbing the door knob, he burst through the door. "Hyung!"

An awkward silence immediately swept the room once he laid eyes upon the scene of Himchan with Psy's secretary in his arms. Nayeon covered her mouth in a gasp once she caught up to Youngjae and stood behind him. 

"Aheh.... I'll just.... get back to my work." Youngjae took a step back and slowly closed the door. 

"What did we just witness?" Nayeon asked.

He looked at her with a serious face. "A drama cliché."


	20. Reunion

Eunji speedily made her way down the sidewalk, breaking out into a slight jog. She was running a little late on her way to work. She knows why, but she couldn't miss an opportunity to be part of the game testing convention! Actually, that was only  _part_  of the reason. She could've signed up earlier and made her way to work faster, but the truth is, she finally dreamt of  _him_  again.

For several nights, their communication has only been through exchanging notes. Being able to see him again made her feel so gleeful; the moment she woke up, she just stared up at the ceiling thinking about it. It's unfortunate how short the meeting was, though.

She was standing there inside the cabin with the sun's final rays shining through the window. As per usual, she wandered about, only to cross paths with him coming the other direction. The moment their eyes met, they froze in place. 

"Eunji?" he said.

Hearing him utter her name made her smile. "Youngjae!"

She spread open her arms and ran toward him. But the moment she embraced him, her eyes shot open and she found herself alone in her bed. 

Eunji pouted with a slight moan thinking back on it. It was such a wonderful dream, but short lived. Still, she wanted to remain optimistic. "At least I saw him again...."

* * *

 

"Hey Youngjae, wait!"

Nayeon called, annoyed at how fast Youngjae was walking ahead of her down the hall. 

Youngjae halted, hearing the quickened pace of Nayeon's footsteps as she made her way to his side. "Were you aware of all that?"

"Of what?"

"You know...." Nayeon shifted her eyes down the hall, then back at him.

He laughed slightly. "Himchan and Ms. Jun used to work in the same department. They hadn't been able to interact much since they were promoted to different areas."

"Ohh..." Nayeon nodded slowly. "We should fix that."

"What?"

"I mean let's get them together more often!"

"Pfft, good luck with that." Youngjae smirked in amusement, continuing his way down the hall to help with the event preparations downstairs.

"I'm serious, Oppa!" she shouted, stomping her foot.

* * *

 

Bomi was at the front counter, spacing out.

"Um, miss?"

"H-Huh?" her mind was snapped back to reality by the voice of an old lady in front of her.

"I'd like to know how much my order costs, if you please."

"Ah sure, sorry.... uhhh...." she quickly rung that up on the register and told her the price.

"Thank you." the woman gave her exact change before taking a seat nearby.

Bomi's professional smile slowly faded as her mind again wandered elsewhere, but not for long. Another customer walked through the door, causing the bell to ring. Like a reflex, her eyes fell that direction.

Daehyun had walked through the door.

She softly uttered his name in shock and wished she could disappear. But it was too late to get out of his sights. His eyes made his way to the front counter, as if they were specifically searching for her. He then made his way toward her. "Bomi."

"U-Uh, y-yes?" Bomi quickly focused her eyes down at the register, quickly typing in some numbers. "You want your usual, right? I'll get that for you right away--"

Immediately she felt Daehyun's hand grip her wrist as she turned to disappear in the back kitchen. "Not today. I want something else."

"Nn.." Bomi's eyes began moistening, wishing she could just disappear but she can't. Slowly she looked toward his direction, tears visibly streaming down her cheek. "Then what do you want?"

Daehyun paused, looking to the side and releasing a long sigh before returning his gaze back to her. "I want--"

"Sorry I'm late!"

Eunji burst through the door, making the bell to ring loudly, causing both Bomi's and Daehyun's attention to be redirected at her.

Quickly grabbing and tying on her work apron, she went to the front counter and tapped Bomi's shoulder. "I'll take it from here--" she stopped. "Bomi? What's wrong, why are you--"

Completely losing her stability, Bomi pushed Eunji aside and broke from Daehyun's grip, running straight for the door.

Eunji gasped. "Wait, Bomi! BOMI!!!"

 

 


	21. Why?

Bomi ran down the sidewalk, completely distraught. She normally wasn't this impulsive; she's not one to start running at the sign of "trouble", much less abandon her _job_ in the process. But she just couldn't face him; she didn't have the courage to after what had slipped from her mouth last night. 

Of all people, why did it have to be _him?_  That one customer that had the nerve to be sweet, kind, and charming. That one that started to regularly come often and would strike up friendly chit-chat with her. That one whom when the stress of her life and brutal schedules drove her to tears, he comforted and made her look forward to coming into work everyday, just so she could see him for a few minutes. 

Jung Daehyun, why did it have to be _you?_

Running out of breath, Bomi finally halted, feeling as if her legs were about to give out. She staggered back a bit, leaning against a cold, cement wall to some building with a _No Loitering_ sign. What was she doing, anyway? It was stupid to run out like that, there's no way her manager wasn't going to scold her, heck, perhaps even _fire_ her. 

"Ugh, I'm so stupid!" she moaned, scratching her head violently and causing it to look like an utter mess.

"Bomi?"

That voice.

Bomi paused, eyes widening, afraid to turn around, but her body did anyway. There was Daehyun, standing only a few feet away; a look of concern on his face. He went after her...?

Unable to move, Bomi remained in place as Daehyun approached her. Once he was in close range, she leaned back against the building and hung her head low, not wanting to make any sort of eye contact.

"Bomi, what were you thinking?" he said in a slight scolding tone, though it was laced with more concern than anything. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, ignoring the slight wince on Bomi's end. "Come on, I'll take you back to work. Eunji will cover you, so don't worry about your boss."

"I-It's fine, I can walk by myself." she jerked her shoulder to throw Daehyun's hand off. "Sorry to cause so much trouble, I'm just... not feeling well, is all."

Daehyun admittedly felt hurt when she jerked away like that. "Listen, Bomi... I...."

"It's okay, I understand, just please don't say it. I don't think I can handle it." she wept. "I know you don't reciprocate my feelings for you... but please, show mercy and don't say it. I promise things will go back the way they were, just please don't say it."

Daehyun spun around as Bomi ran past him to return to the coffee shop. He stood there, frozen in place as he watched her fade away from view.

"That isn't what I was going to say."


	22. Exactly

Youngjae was in the break room once lunch finally rolled around. Things downstairs were pretty hectic at first, but now the crowds were starting to die down. Almost every single slot had been filled; it was going to be a lively testing convention. And hopefully, their team would catch the attention of the participating gamers. 

His mind briefly thought about the dream he had of that Eunji girl last night. She seemed so happy to see him... actually, he was surprised with even himself how happy he was to see _her._  Hopefully tonight they'd cross paths again and could stay a little longer in each other's presence.

These thoughts weren't dwelt on for long as Himchan, still in a zombie-like state, took a seat to his left and robotically started eating his lunch. This stirred the previous exasperation Youngjae felt earlier this morning when he had found out about his overnight stay in the office. 

Himchan could feel his eyes on him and it made him uncomfortable, remembering how he burst into the office earlier and saw a peculiar scene that could easily be misconstrued as inappropriate behaviour. "Youngjae."

"Hm?"

"What you saw earlier.... Ms. Jun lost her footing, I---"

A small smirk formed on Youngjae's face. "You don't have to clear things up with me. I know your luck, it wasn't at all what it looked like."

Himchan released a sigh that was a mixture of relief, as well as displeasure toward the jab at his luck. 

"It reminded me a lot of what happens in the dramas." Youngjae commented. "It happens a lot; totally innocent situations that get badly misconstrued."

Himchan took another bite of his food, nodding absent-mindedly.

"And it's always with the one they like." 

Himchan nearly choked on his food and started coughing. " _Like...._ heh, that's inaccurate." 

"Oh..." Youngjae nodded, grabbing his disposable containers and standing up. "That's true. _Like_ wouldn't be a strong enough word, huh?"

"Ye--" he quickly cut off, only to facepalm at himself. "Don't misconstrue that."

"Heh, I'm not. After all, it'd be considered inappropriate for a team leader to be in a relationship with his boss's secretary, wouldn't it?"

Youngjae threw the styrofoam containers away as he proceeded down the hall to return to work. Himchan sat there in silence as Youngjae's last sentence hung in the air. His expression fell a bit, speaking in a low voice. "... _exactly."_

 


	23. Still There

Eunji was incredibly swamped after today's work. She waddled into her apartment, clumsily taking off her shoes as her cat greeted her. 

She switched on the kitchen light, pulling some instant noodles from the cupboards. She was too lazy to make anything fantastic, so she settled for something quick. Within 10 minutes time, her "meal" was ready, and she robotically shoveled the noodles into her mouth as she sat alone at her table in the eerie quiet.

All she could think about was Bomi. 

Why was she so weird today? How come she ran out like that? It's unlike her. What's worse is, she refused to talk about it. Daehyun didn't say much either on the matter. Did they have a fight or something?

Sighing, she set her noodles down, staring out into nothing as these thoughts plagued her mind. Her cat gently rubbed up against her legs, the softness of its fur bringing Eunji back to reality. "Aww, are you hungry, baby?" she said lovingly as she picked up her precious cat. It meowed in response, struggling a bit; obviously she didn't want to be held right now. Setting her back down, Eunji got out of her chair and quickly set out a plate of milk before waddling off to bed.

Immediately, Eunji just fell backward, spreading her arms wide out as her eyes fixated the ceiling. She was too exhausted to bother with changing out of her work attire. "Bomi.... what's wrong? Why won't you tell me, aren't we friends...?"

* * *

 

"....aren't we friends...."

The words came out tired and slurred from Eunji's mouth.

"Eunji?"

"Nn..!"

Gasping, Eunji quickly sat up, eyes wide open. She turned her head to her right to see a slightly startled Youngjae sitting beside her. "O-Oh, sorry.... I...."

She must've fell asleep, of course. 

"You look exhausted." he noticed.

"Heh, so do you." she pulled at one of his cheeks, causing him to place his hand where she pinched. He nodded in agreement, "Yeah, well... it was a busy day for our company."

"How's the game going, by the way?" she asked excitedly. 

He smiled. "Thanks to you, I think we have a chance to defeat the final boss."

Eunji giggled at that statement. "I hope so!"

An awkward quiet fell upon them for a few moments, unsure of what to say now. She helped resolve the problem with his team's project, now what? Why was he still seeing her?

Not that he was complaining, in fact he was a little relieved.

Trying to break the ice that was threatening to encase them, Eunji reached for his hand and said, "Hey! Now that we have time, would you like to play a game with me?"

Youngjae laughed slightly. "With what equipment?"

"True...." she pouted. "Ah, but we had controllers lying about, there  _must_  be a console somewhere. After all, have we ever truly explored this place?"

"Now that you mention it...." 

"Come on!" Eunji got up from the sofa, pulling Youngjae up with her. 

The entire night was spent scouring the fairly large cabin.

* * *

 

"Found it!"

Eunji bolted up triumphantly in her bed, her arm outstretched high....  _only to be met with disappointment that she just woke up._  Immediately she pouted, frustrated that after they had found the gaming equipment,  _they once again were thwarted._

Her cat crawled over her legs, curling up within her sights as a subtle command for attention. Eunji scratched her beloved kitty's ears, which in turn, calmed herself down. Still, she released a sigh; "When will I be able to spend more time with him?"


	24. Matchmaker

"Ms. Jun!"

"Eh?" Hyoseong was startled by Nayeon's calling voice in the distance.

"Good morning~" she smiled.

"Oh, uh, good morning." Hyoseong responded, simultaniously trying to organize small stacks of paperclipped sheets in the filing cabinet. 

"Sooo.... you're Psy's secretary?"

 _"Park Jaesang's_ secretary, yes." she corrected, even though she's been known to throw that "nickname" around herself (in private, of course). 

"Uh-huh...." Nayeon nodded slowly, giving off a strange air that was making Hyoseong naturally feel suspicious. "So, um, I was wondering...." Nayeon leaned against the filing cabinet awkwardly. "There aren't many other girls in our team, and I'd really like to have a lunch buddy I can talk to about, you know, _girl stuff."_

Hyoseong laughed a bit, easing up slightly even though this still seemed kinda weird. "Oh, is that all? When is your lunch break?"

"Mm... around one-thirty."

"Well, come by my desk around then and we can converse about _girl stuff."_

"Awesome!" Nayeon jumped in excitement, thanking Hyoseong profusely before running off down the hall. Once she was a good enough distance, she pumped her fist, unable to contain her excitement. "Phase 1 success!"

Nayeon was beaming as she entered the office, humming to herself as she took her seat to proofread the last of the demo's script.

"What's with you?" Youngjae asked bluntly, his eyes still locked on the screen in front of him as he typed various functions into the game script. 

"Nothing, Just happy." she replied.

"Not with that creepy smile." Vernon commented. "What evil deeds are you scheming?" 

Her smile fell and she glanced at him with daggers with a sharp turn of the head. "Shut up and finish your translations."

Vernon cringed. "Okay, okay..."

* * *

 

Bomi arrived to work 10 minutes later, practically half asleep. Eunji was working extra hard at the counter, as quite the line built up. She was so thankful the moment Bomi arrived.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here, please help me! I have no idea how we got all busy all of a sudden."

"It's been like that for the past 3 days." Bomi said flatly. She was already stressed enough with her meltdown that same 3 days ago, it didn't help that the coffee shop decided to become so popular all of a sudden. 

Grabbing her apron, Bomi switched with Eunji at the counter and did her best to quickly take orders  to relieve the line a bit. Once things seemed to have eased up, Eunji came out of the kitchen and placed a small, rectangular box with a red ribbon around it on the counter.

"Hey, what's this?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Eunji shrugged. "Dunno. Some guy came here and asked me to give it to you."

While Eunji spoke, Bomi pulled the lid off the box to reveal a shiney, new watch which nearly made her heart stop. 

"Ooh, that looks pretty!" Eunji commented, followed by her lips forming a smirk. "I think someone has a secret admirer~"

Sighing, she rolled her eyes, closing the lid and shoving it into Eunji's hands. "Don't want it."

"What? Why?"

"Tell him I'm not interested."

"Oh, come on, Bomi!"

"I don't want anybody else!" she said sharply. 

This caused Eunji to step back a bit in surprise. "Anybody else?"

"I mean..." Bomi stumbled with her words, groaning. "Just tell him I'm not interested, OK?"

Bomi stormed off to the back kitchen, leaving Eunji alone at the counter. She sighed, shaking her head. "Oh, Bomi..."

 


	25. New Customer

Bomi trudged through the lunch period of her shift as the amount of customers at the coffee shop nearly  _doubled._  She was feeling exasperated, but maintained a professional conduct. She wasn't sure what to make of the mysterious gift Eunji delivered to her, but regardless, she really wasn't interested.

As she gave change to the last customer currently in line, Bomi caught in the corner of her eye Eunji talking to a rather tall, youthful looking customer. His hair was dyed blonde, but you could see the dark roots showing up. For the past 3 days, he's been regularly coming around. As she observed, her ears caught a small snippet of their conversation;

"So you're going to be at the game tester convention too?" Eunji said excitedly.

"Yeah!" the boy replied brightly in response. "Um, I'm Zelo by the way."

"Ah, that's right, you were in line ahead of me! Nice to meet you, I'm uh...  _Dream Girl."_  Eunji laughed, a small twinge of regret using that title.

Okay, so they were obviously exchanging handles. Zelo is obviously not the boy's real name, but at least she had some name to tag him with other than  _tall boy with the blonde hair._

When it appeared their gaze was falling toward the counter, Bomi quickly looked away, pretending she was fiddling with something in the register. A few moments later, the tall customer "Zelo" approached. "Hi," he said. "Can I order something?"

"Huh? Oh, yes." Bomi gave her full attention. "What would you like?"

Zelo thought for a moment, then made his choice. Bomi nodded, adding up all the prices into the register and announced the total. "Your order will be ready in a few minutes." she told him.

"Thanks," he smiled, receiving his change. For a moment, he paused at least a good two seconds. 

Bomi lifted an eyebrow. "Uh... something wrong?"

"Huh, oh no, sorry." he said shyly. "Um, I'll go sit over by the window while I wait."

Quickly, he did just that, leaving Bomi unsure what to make of his behaviour.


	26. Lunch Buddy

1:30 p.m.

Lunch break.

Nayeon and Hyoseong walked side by side down the hallway, heading to one of the break rooms. Hyoseong was fine with Nayeon eating in the office, but she  _insisted._

"Thank you so much for coming to eat with me!" Nayeon said brightly, a bit of a skip in her step.

"It does get rather lonely sometimes." Hyoseong laughed slightly. She was holding a paper cup of coffee in one hand and a bag of left over take-out in the other. "Hey, Nayeon.... you don't have any food with you."

Nayeon halted with a gasp, covering her mouth. "Oh no! I forgot to purchase it!"

"Well, that's okay..." Hyoseong began digging through her bags. "I have plenty--"

"Ah, no." Nayeon quickly said in an apologising tone. "I've been having some really bad digestion problems, so I need to take special care with my diet at the moment."

She rubbed her tummy in emphasis. "Listen, I'll just quickly grab a sub sandwiche down the street, it won't be long, just wait here in the break room 'till I get back!"

Whilst she said this, she pushed Hyoseong from the back toward the entrance of the break room before patting her back and bidding her farewell, scurrying down the hall and making a sharp turn around the corner. Hyoseong was left confused and dumbfounded.

"Should I go back in my office?" she questioned herself, then shook her head. "No, she's expecting me to wait for her."

Sighing, she turned toward the doorframe, taking a couple steps in--then immediately froze.

Sitting at the break room table, the only other soul, was Himchan whom was equally as surprised. The awkward silence lasted about 5 seconds, before Himchan decided to speak first. "Oh, Ms. Jun. I didn't expect to see you here." he started gathering his things. "I'm almost done here, I can finish up in my office--"

"You don't have to leave!" Hyoseong quickly said, smiling awkwardly as she entered the room. "I'm a quiet eater, so I won't bother you. Just pretend I'm not here."

She took a seat across from him, placing down her bag and pulling out the styrofoam containers. 

"I just.... don't normally see you eat here." he told her. "You're usually alone in your office." 

"Yeah, well, I'm waiting for someone to join me actually. She insisted we eat here, then realised she forgot her lunch." she sighed, breaking her disposable chopsticks apart as she began digging into her noodles. 

Nayeon was peaking her head from the corner of the end of the hallway, making sure Hyoseong entered the break room. "Ahh, she's sitting with him!" she whispered to herself, hardly able to mask her giddy tone.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah!" Nayeon sharply turned around to see Youngjae standing behind her. "Don't do that!"

"You're in the way. I'd like to enjoy my lunch--" Youngjae was about to walk past her to go to the breakroom, but Nayeon immediately grabbed his wrist, pulling him back. "Eat somewhere else!" she told him.

"Excuse me?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Shhh!" she put her index finger to her lips, briefly looking back toward the breakroom, then returning her gaze back at him. She spoke in a whispering tone, "I finally got them  _alone."_

"Who alone?" Youngjae suddenly realised. "Oh... you don't mean--"

Nayeon grinned from ear to ear, it was almost unsettling. "You bet I did!"

Youngjae sighed. "It's not going to work. Himchan has this thing about... not getting involved."

"Haaa...!!" Nayeon completely ignored his statement and pulled him closer by the wrist. "Look, look!"

"Huh?" Youngjae's curiousity was admittedly peaked, so he leaned forward more and at an angle to try to discreetly see what was going on.

"Did you make all that?" Hyoseong asked, referring to Himchan's lunch.

"Yeah." he nodded. 

She immediately smiled. "You always made such delicious lunches back in school. I always looked forward to them."

He gave a nod, almost smiling himself. "You remember that, huh?"

"Of course, it was so yummy." she sighed happily just thinking of it, feeling quite pathetic having to be stuck with overly greasy, not so great take out leftovers before her. A depressing look fell upon her face.

He laughed slightly. "You look miserable all of a sudden."

"Yeah, well.... day old take out is..... kinda gross."

Hyoseong's pouting was so cute, it was hard for Himchan to resist it. He clamped some of his food with his chopsticks and held it up, cupping one of his hands underneath in case anything falls out. "You want some of this?"

Her eyes immediately lit up and she didn't hesitate to lean over the table close in order for him to feed it to her.

However--

"Boss, what are you doing?"

Immediately, Himchan retracted, dropping his chopsticks onto the table, and Hyoseong nearly choked.

It was Vernon, with Amber Liu behind him.

Hyoseong covered her mouth in embarrassment, quickly gathering her things and heading out. "I-I need to get back to work now."

"Was that Psy's secretary?" Vernon questioned. 

Himchan glared at Vernon with severe irritation. "What do you want?"

"We really need to solve the singer problem." Amber answered for him.

He sighed in exasperation. "Later."

Grabbing his own things, he left the break room and returned back to the office in irritation.

Nayeon stomped her foot in frustration. "Stupid Vernon."

"Amber was with him too, you know." Youngjae added.

 

 


	27. Barrier

Nayeon pouted as she and Youngjae walked side by side down the hall to return to their main office.

"You probably shouldn't meddle so much," Youngjae advised her. 

"But they were so close!" Nayeon whined, followed by a seethe. "Until _Vernon_ interrupted."

"Still, I told you.... Himchan is--"

"What? Too involved with work? Pfft," she rolled her eyes. "Sounds more like _you."_

"Huh?" Youngjae was taken aback.

Nayeon turned to face him. "At least with Himchan, there's a _chance,_ regardless of the stupid work barrier. He can't avoid seeing her forever, in fact, being Psy's secretary, he must see her!" she released a sigh, before gathering more breath to continue. "But you? You're so caught up in your scripts, so focused on your projects that you don't have time to find anybody, so your dreams have to manifest a girl for you!"

His eyes widened a bit, taking a step back. "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on! If anyone's letting work get in the way of love, it's you!" she pointed at him like a detective whose found the prime suspect. "And even when you see her, it's STILL related to the game."

Youngjae was feeling very uncomfortable, a bit regretful he had even mentioned the girl in his dreams at all. But he still couldn't take credit for solving the problem, even if she was just someone in his subconcious. "Nayeon, what are you getting at?"

"That you're lonely and don't want to acknowlede it! Why else did it have to be a _girl,_ hm?" With that, Nayeon walked on ahead, leaving Youngjae with nothing to say.

* * *

 

The sun was almost setting as Daehyun made his way to the coffee shop. It was fairly bustling, as expexted by this time. There was Bomi at the counter, taking an order from the last customer in line. He approached casually with his hands in his pockets by the time she was done. "Hey," he said.

"What'll it be, the usual?" she asked mechanically, already punching it into the register.

"Ah no, just this is fine." he took a large cookie that was sitting in a basket on the counter.

"Alright then," she punched it into the register and told him the total, which he delivered. "Enjoy."

"So uh--" Daehyun quickly said to keep her attention. "H-How was today?"

She shrugged. "Fine I guess. Except...."

"Except?"

"Some mysterious guy gave me a brand new watch."

Daehyun's eyes widened in interest. "Ohhh... who was it?"

"I don't know, Eunji says I have a secret admirer."

He smiled a bit. "Well, you are very pretty, it doesn't--"

"I rejected it."

That caught him off guard. "Huh?"

"I didn't want it."

"That sounds kinda harsh." he told her.

Bomi didn't respond to that.

Sighing, Daehyun lifted his hand in a wave, saying "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you later."

He walked out of the coffee shop.

"He's right, Bomi, that was harsh." Eunji chimed.

Bomi swallowed. "Well, we can't all get what we want in this world."


	28. Know

Youngjae had arrived home an hour before Daehyun did. Usually he didn't mind entering the apartment alone, but now he had no noise to distract his thoughts.

The words Nayeon had said earlier echoed throughout his mind . Was he _really_ like that? Come to think of it, she wasn't wrong; all his interactions with Eunji as of late were mostly to solve the problem. Now that it is solved, she's still appearing... but why?

Ignoring the cries for food in his rumbling stomach, Youngjae just fell backward onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling in thought. What is it that he really wanted from all this? Even before the game's problem arose, he had already seen her a few times. Maybe she wasn't a mental image to help him solve this issue after all, but represented _something else._  

Groaning, he rolled over on his side, his head aching from thinking about it too much. What sort of illogical thinking was this? They're just dreams, nothing more.. .. at least that's what he had tried to convince himself, but as reasonable as he normally was, knew that was a lie. _They weren't just dreams._  And he wanted to know _why._  

* * *

 

Immediately, Youngjae jolted up at the sensation of his head uncomfortably rested upon a hard surface. He found himself on a soft leather chair in front of a familiar setting of fancy interior and a desk. Usually this would be where Himchan's drafts were scattered about, but this time there was a neatly stapled script with the words FINAL DRAFT in bold letters. Curiously, he picked it up and flipped through the pages. "This is the final script," he said to himself.

Looking around, Eunji was nowhere to be found. Sighing, he put his head in his hands, having desired to see her. Well, guess it's back to writing notes again, he thought. He pulled a blank piece of paper and started composing a letter of sorts. Halfway through, however--

"Youngjae!!!"

Suddenly, Youngjae felt himself being squeezed by a pair of arms from behind him. He turned and looked up to see Eunji looking excited. "Good evening~"

Youngjae quickly stood up. "Eunji?"

She grabbed his wrist. "Come on. Game time!"

Accepting no protest, Eunji dragged him to the spot they had been in their last meeting, feeling happy that all the equipment was set up so they could finally play a game together. She handed him a controller and booted up the system. "Let's play a fighting game." she told him. "I feel like beating someone up~"

"Wait!"

She looked a bit disappointed. "You don't want to play with me?"

"No, that's not it, uhh..." he scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to say this. 

Eunji tilted her head. "You need any more help with something?"

He shook his head. "No, I...." he looked at her. "We really don't know much about each other, do we?"

That caught her by surprise, then a thoughtful expression followed. "Hmm... I guess you're right, but--"

"I want to though."

Eunji paused, then smiled. "Me too. But first--" she picked up the controller and hit start. "Play!"

Youngjae had to laugh at her eagerness, but honestly, he'd been dying to know what they were going to play since they first started interacting. He learned she was a lot more skillful than anticipated, stirring his competitive nature. She was a worthy opponent, alright.

And he liked that. No, he liked _her_ very much.

 


	29. Care

Eunji was humming to herself happily as she was spraying cream onto someone's coffee drink. After handing it over to the customer, Bomi asked her what's up.

She smiled to herself. "I had a good dream last night."

"Youngjae?" Bomi tilted her head.

Her grin grew wider. "Uh-huh! We finally played a game!"

Bomi had to restrain herself so much from divulging the identity of her little dream partner. But then again, Daehyun could be wrong? No, he couldn't.... everything matched too well, and Eunji would probably think she's nuts if she said her little fantasy boy was real. Besides, Daehyun could get hurt in the process considering---

...wait, why was she caring so much if he got hurt?

"Oh, by the way!" Eunji pulled something from under the counter. "For you."

"What is it?" Bomi took the small, square box.

She shrugged. "I dunno."

Bomi nearly dropped the box as soon as she pulled the lid off, letting out a muffled squeak and covering her mouth.

"Bomi, what's---" Eunji staggered back with a gasp when she beheld the item. "Ohmygosh, it's so pretty!"

It was a gold colored chain necklace with a cute pendant at the end. Perhaps it wasn't as pricey as it looked, but still. Bomi quickly closed the lid and started frantically writing a note. "I can't accept this."

"But Bomi--"

"Tell him NO!" Bomi shoved the little box in Eunji's hand before walking off to continue her work. She seemed absolutely stressed over this.

Eunji sighed. "You're not even trying..."

* * *

 

Youngjae was at his computer, typing repetitively a series of strings of Jimin's voice over. "Hyung, you made sure her lines were adequate, right?"

"Yeah." Himchan replied, looking over some papers. 

"Ken can finish the rest of this...." Youngjae fell back in his chair, taking a deep breath. This was also the most boring part when it came to scripting. "He hardly comes into work these days..."

"I've finalised the main model." Jongup declared. 

"Good, send screenshots in all angles to Yongguk to see if it meets his expectation." Himchan ordered.

Jongup nodded, doing just that.

Vernon let out a huge, audibly sigh of relief, putting his hands up like he accomplished a great feet. "Half the script has been translated!"

"Still wish I had a singer..." Amber muttered. "I'm nearly done with the menu's main theme."

"Aaaand.... time out!" Nayeon bursts into the office unexpectedly. "Lunch time. Go eat; it's not good to work on an empty stomach."

Vernon, Amber, and Jongup immediately got out of their seats to enjoy lunch at the break room. Youngjae continued to sit at his desk, staring at his computer screen, whilst Himchan (glasses on), was intently reading a paper.

Nayeon puffed. "Hey, didn't you hear me? Go eat!"

 _"Yes, sir."_ Youngjae said in a mocking tone with a salute, walking past her to join the others in the breakroom. 

Nayoen just rolled her eyes as she approached Himchan's desk, slamming her hand down to grab his attention. "Go eat. Work later."

"I can eat here." he told her.

"How do I know you're not ly---"

Himchan pulled a container and chopsticks from underneath his desk, slamming it down for effect. She couldn't argue. "Here's your coffee..." she sighed, setting it next to him.

As she twirled around, off to go find her own sustanance, Himchan called. "Wait!"

Nayeon halted, instantly doing a 180 turn.

"Can you..." he sighed, a bit hesitant, but pulled it from underneath his desk and held it to her. "...give this to Ms. Jun? She needs to eat better."

Nayeon really had to use all her strength to hold back a smirk. "As you wish, sir."

* * *

 

Hyoseong was sitting at her desk alone, sighing as she placed the styrofoam container of left over Chinese food that was probably a few days old now. She made a face before closing it, contemplating if it'd be better to go hungry than get possible food poisoning.

"Ms. Jun?" Nayeon knocked on the open door to her office.

"Ah, Nayeon, come in." she gestured toward a seat.

"Oh, no. I'm not staying long. Here." Nayeon handed her the container. "A proper meal. Someone tells me you're not eating properly."

"Eh heh... and uh, who would that be?" she laughed nervously.

"Enjoy!" Nayeon just shoved the container in her hands and ran off without another word. 

"Umm...."

Before she could question anything, her stomach grumbled, causing her to pull off the lid to the mystery delivery. Immediately, the smell emitting from the handmade food caused her to quickly toss that styrofoam container into the trash and dig into this obviously superior dish.

It tasted heavenly and strangely nostalgic. She hadn't eaten anything this good since--

She paused, putting her hand to her mouth, chewing a lot slower. "Channie..."


	30. Doubt

Nayeon skipped down the hall happily, completely giddy about the situation she was just put in. That being, the unexpected mission from Himchan to give Ms. Jun something better to eat. It made her feel all warm inside.

As she blissfully continued down the hall, she hardly noticed the others leaving the breakroom, save for one. That is why she was surprised when she only found one lone Youngjae with his lunch, appearing to be in deep thought. 

"Where'd the others go?" Nayeon asked, taking a seat across from him (and stealing a small bag of chips from his side).

"Huh? Oh, they left." he replied, not fully back to reality.

"Ohhh..." she nodded, munching lightly on a chip.

The room was silent, until Youngjae decided to make conversation. "Nayeon."

"Hm?"

"About what you said..." Youngjae was a bit hesitant, and even a little embarrassed to bring this up. He skirted around the subject a bit, and dove right into the question he was longing to ask. "Do you think dreams mean anything?"

That caught her off guard. Her eyes shifted upward left in thought with a slight tilt of the head before giving an affirmative nod. "Yeah, I think they can. Why?"

Sighing, Youngjae reluctantly continued. "The girl that solved our problem... I.... have been seeing her well before that. And I still see her. We interact and talk to each other, it's like..."

"...being in your own private space?" she finished.

He paused, wide eyed. "Y-Yeah... kind of like that."

A small smile formed upon her lips. "Maybe she's real."

Youngjae slightly laughed, causing him to cough a bit due to still having food in his mouth. "That's pushing it."

"I'm being serious, Oppa!" she could tell he wasn't buying it. "Look, the good things aren't going to come to you if you remain skeptical like this. These aren't normal dreams, are they?"

He couldn't argue there. "Definitely not."

_"Maybe you've met your match."_

Daehyun's words suddenly came to mind again. He seemed to think there was something up from the very beginning. Why was it so hard for Youngjae to wrap his head around this? Nayeon and Daehyun accepted it without batting an eyelash, and they're not the ones experiencing this. 

The thing is, Youngjae wanted to. He wanted to believe this meant something special for him, but that small twinge of doubt was throbbing inside him like a sudden injury. Or perhaps it was fear; the fear that she really is nothing more than a figment of his imagination.

He believed, and didn't believe, all at once.


	31. Only One

Himchan's team was able to finish their work early, by 5pm in fact.

All the other teammates sighed in relief, high fiving each other, and practically exiting the office at the same time. Youngjae certainly had a lot on his mind after his conversation with Nayeon, and was several feet away from the group, walking slowly at his own pace with his head trapped in his own thoughts and his hand stuffed in his pockets. But soon even he was out of sight.

Himchan was the last one to gather all his things, locking the door behind him as a prevention method of any of the other teams sabotaging their work. Sadly when Himchan was first promoted and assigned his very own development team, he had to endure a lot of pranks and difficulty from the senior teams. All those childish games oddly stopped when he privately spilled his frustrations without meaning to, and everyone received a firm e-mail of rebuke to such behaviour. Nevertheless, he really had no allies in this building, and that e-mail certainly didn't help the divide.

Only person he truly trusts outside his own team was Hyoseong, whom happened to be the one he mentioned those frustrations to in passing. He's always wondered if she had something to do with the malicious attacks ceasing. 

Absent-mindedly stuffing his set of keys in his pocket, he yawned as he made his own way out, accidentally bumping shoulders with someone coming the opposite direction. This caused the poor woman to nearly drop her paper cup of freshly brewed coffee, letting out a nearly inaudible squeak in reaction.

"Sorry..." Himchan said in a tired voice, turning back to take a glance. "I..."

He paused. It was Hyoseong.

She just smiled at him. "Ahaha, no, it's fine! I should look where I'm going. My head.... it was somewhere else."

"Another long night?" he commented, eyeing the cup of coffee in her hands and the fact she was heading toward her office, not away from it.

"Mm... yeah..." she sort of looked away, pouting a little. "The boss keeps my schedule full these days. Can't complain too much, at least it pays well." she then lifted her hand in a waving motion. "Well, I better get going. Paperwork doesn't sort itself."

"Goodnight." Himchan told her.

He couldn't help but watch her back as she proceeded down the hall. Before he was about to leave himself, Hyoseong quickly halted and turned around anxiously. "Channie!"

That took him by surprise. Usually she'd call him Mr. Kim or sometimes Himchan to be a little more friendly. 

"U-Um..." she did her best to muster a smile, but she was stuttering all of a sudden. "Thank you! I had a good lunch today."

With that, she quickly turned around and dashed down the hall.


	32. Save Me

Bomi was currently wiping down one of the tables in the middle of the coffee shop. Eunji was running the register whilst a couple other workers were busy whipping up multiple kinds of coffee. Past 5pm was quite the busy time, with many people getting off work, and a lot of graveyard shift people preparing to begin. 

At the corner of her eye she saw a suspicious looking character and didn't appreciate how he was looking at her. It was like she could feel his perverted gaze scan her from head to toe. Last time she faced a situation like this was....

The memory played vividly in her mind. A time before she got Eunji to work here. 

It was broad daylight, and it was oddly dead. There was a lone middle-aged man sitting by the window. He hadn't even come up to the counter to order anything, he just came in and took a seat. Naturally, being the accomodating employee that she was, Bomi wore a friendly smile and offered her assistance. "Is there anything I could help you with?"

"Ah," the man said, putting down the newspaper he was reading. "As a matter of fact, there is."

Whilst saying this, he gently tapped her butt which caused Bomi to squirm uncomfortably. "Yes, uh, you hadn't ordered anything. What would you like?" she asked this whilst attempting to take a couple steps back, straightening her apron.

Immediatly, the man grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. "Why are you inching away? That's not nice to do to a customer."

"It's much  _worse_ to touch your waitress." she seethed, pulling out of his grip. Unfortunately Bomi was currently the only employee manning the place at the moment; everyone else was out to quickly grab supplies, taking advantage of the dead period.

As this altercation transpired, the bell sounded. "Hello!" Daehyun called. He had recently been coming to this place often, and was therefore a recognised regular at this point. 

When his eyes searched for any other signs of life, his gaze fell upon Bomi as she struggled to get away from that creepy man's touchy hands. "Hey!" he shouted, grabbing both their attention. 

Quickly running to Bomi's side, he smacked the man's hand away. This didn't bode well with the fellow. "Get out of here." the man said. "It's just a waitress, no need to concern yourself."

Daehyun nearly snapped hearing that comment. "So you're saying she's not worth anything just because she's a waitress, huh?"

"Her job is to serve, all I want is a little extra tip."

Daehyun was shocked at this person's mere existence. This felt too exaggerated to be real, he almost wanted to laugh. In fact, he couldn't help himself anymore. "Sir, I think you need to leave."

The man slowly reached into his pocket. "Make me."

"Aheh," Dahyun put his finger up as a means of indicating _one moment please._  Quickly he pulled out his phone and held it up to his ear. The man paused a bit in confusion, until Daehyun started talking. "Hello, police? I'd like to report a vicious case of sexual harrassment on a coffee shop waitress. Yeah, I am witnessing it right now, he won't get his filthy hands off her. Yes, please get here right away--"

Immediately, the man clumsily jumped out of his chair and made a dash out of the shop, dropping a bent up plastic spoon on the ground. As he did this, Daehyun's voice boomed louder with more dramatic inflection. "Help her, please! Send in your best men! A-Ah, hurry, hurry!"

The man nearly tripped before he was out of their sight. Releasing a deep sigh, he turned toward Bomi and took her hand, gently rubbing her wrist. "Are you OK?"

She flinched slightly and Daehyun limmediately let go, scratching the back of his neck. "Eheh, sorry.... I'm not trying to be creepy, just..."

Bomi let out an amused laugh. "No, no, it's fine.... that was really sweet of you. Thanks. But I would've been fine either way. I'm a black belt in Tae Kwon Do~" she winked. 

"Oh, that would've been cool to see. If I had known that, I'd just sit back and watch the show."

She crossed her arms, pouting. "Really Daehyun?"

He laughed. "I'm just kidding."

She tilted her head in thought. "Although, that would've been fun too. But since you called 119, I'm going to have--"

"Aheh, actually..." Daehyun pulled out his phone to show a severely cracked screen with zero power. 

Her eyes widened. "You bluffed?!"

"Yeah..." he nodded anxiously. "Glad it worked, otherwise you would've had to save me."

Bomi's mind was brought back to the present when she felt a customer pass by from behind. She stood up straight, quickly turning her head to see the same suspicious character had "accidentally" brushed up against her. "Oh, forgive me." he told her, only to try and discreetly take an upskirt photo with his phone.

Luckily, Bomi's eyes were sharp, but before she could showcase her sick martial arts, a hand had grabbed the creep's wrist. It was that tall boy... Zelo, was it?

"Leave her alone." he told him with a sharp glare, applying an uncomfortable amount of pressure to his wrist.

"Okay, okay, just let me go!"

Zelo did just that and the man quickly ran out, causing silence to engulf the room as every customer watched the creep exit the shop.

"Are you alright, Noona?" Zelo asked, concerned.

Bomi's hand clenched, shaking, but her eyes felt moist and a lump formed in her throat. Tearing off her apron, she angrily ran past Zelo and threw her apron onto one of the tables, shouting, "I'm leaving first!"

"Bomi? Wait, Bomi!" Eunji called, then she looked at Zelo. "What happened?"

He hung his head slightly, a little sad. "I don't know."

 


	33. Mutual

"I was just trying to help her..."

Zelo was feeling down about what transpired earlier, with Bomi suddenly running off like that. He sat at one of the tables with Eunji sitting across from him, currently taking her 10 minute break. 

"You didn't do anything wrong, Bomi's just..." Eunji thought of the best way to put it. "...a little stressed, that's all. She won't even come to me about it, and I'm her best friend!"

He nodded. "I see."

"Aw, cheer up." Eunji tapped his shoulder. "The testing festival is in a couple days, aren't you excited?"

That brought a smile to his face. "Yeah. It's going to be awesome playing all those new game titles."

"Can you believe we have a say in what finishes production?" Eunji squealed in excitement. "I can't wait!"

"Oh, um..." Zelo pulled up a paper bag he had beside his leg, pushing it toward Eunji. "Before I forget."

Eunji took the bag and peaked inside. "Awww, this looks so nice, and--oh!" she dug her hand in and pulled out a small piece of paper. "It even comes with a note! That's so cute~"

"Please hold onto it for now."

She gave a salute. "Yes, sir!"

* * *

 

Bomi trudged up the stairs to her lousy apartment, wanting to escape from the lowering temperatures. Not that it would do much good; her apartment felt like an ice box, so she immediately got out the plug in heater to get some warmth in the living room.

"Haaa, this isn't me at all..." she complained to herself, punching in a few numbers into her microwave for some instant noodles. "I'd never abandon my job over something so petty as not feeling well..."

The microwave dinged, and she took out her noodles, gave them a stir, and waited for it to cool. "Jung Daehyun, I hate you." she clenched her fist and lightly hit the counter, feeling frustrated. "I hate that I feel this way because of you. I hate that I'm letting it get to me. You shouldn't matter. There are plenty of nice people--" Zelo's face immediately came to mind. "--so why does it have to be YOU?!"

Crying, she shoved the noodles to the side with violent force, causing it to slide all the way to the otherside of the counter, falling over and creating a mess. Her legs felt weak, and she fell on her knees, sobbing on the counter. She wasn't hungry, she just wanted to sleep. Maybe in the morning everything would be fine. 

Ignoring the mess that lay upon her carpet, Bomi crawled under the covers of her bed, embracing the silence. Sleep is the perfect medicine for stress. She tried clearing out all the noise in her head and focused on absolutely nothing. Eventually she got bored enough that she was lulled peacefully to sleep....

* * *

 

"I wish you would just go away." Bomi said.

Daehyun was standing in front of her, hands inside his pant pockets as he listened intently to Bomi's words. She knew this was a dream, this was nothing new; he often invaded her thoughts even in sleep, so she took advantage to say what she needed to say to Daehyun's image in her mind's eye. After all, she didn't have the guts to say it in reality.

"You really don't want to see me anymore?" Daehyun asked, concerned.

"N-No, I mean..." Bomi put her fist to her mouth, trying to muffle the sounds of her sorrow. Even in dreamland she couldn't catch a break, huh?

"I want to see you again." he told her.

Unable to hold back anymore, she pulled forward, wrapping her arms around him and crying on his shoulder. "I wish that was true..."

* * *

 

Daehyun's eyes shot open, his body rising into the sitting position on his bed. Immediately, he started rubbing his eyes, glancing at the clock on the nightstand; it was 6:30 in the morning.

"Second time." he said to himself, vaguely recalling his already fading dream of Bomi.

Reaching for his phone, he scrolled through his contacts and put it to his ear. Hopefully they were up this early. "Yeah, this is Daehyun, sorry to wake you." he told the person on the other end, in a tone of voice that indicated he barely arose himself. "Hey um, how is...?"

He paused a moment as he listened to the person on the other end say something, only to nod in response. "Oh, okay. Thanks then."

Hanging up, he set his phone to the side, falling back in his bed and staring at the ceiling. "Second time... or maybe it was a few times before that..."

 


	34. Late

Daehyun sat at the table, occasionally sipping a cup of coffee as he stared at nothing. A sudden string of curses filled the air as Youngjae emerged, throwing on his overcoat and scrambling around everywhere.

"What's up with you?" Daehyun asked.

"Launch day is upon us!" he replied, pulling a couple pieces of bread from the cabinet and placing it in the toaster. "We have to compile our demo and test run it. One day isn't very thorough, but it's a demo at least, so as long as it functions...."

Youngjae tapped the counter impatiently until his toast popped. Overwhelmed with relief, he grabbed the tub of butter, setting himself down across from Daehyun as he prepared to devour his breakfast as quickly as he made it. Watching him nearly choke on his meal almost made Daehyun feel sick. "Whoa, slow down."

"Can't."

Swallowing his last bite, Youngjae quickly wiped his lips with a napkin and was about ready to bolt out of there. As his hand reached for the doorknob--

"Youngjae."

With a seething sigh, Youngjae turned around. "What?"

Daehyun could tell Youngjae was not in the mood, and it's been that way since his falter with offering Eunji the singing position. "Why is it you keep dreaming?"

Youngjae bit his lip, annoyed. "About Eunji? I don't know, I guess... maybe I like someone like that. Why?"

"Do you think it's possible to be so focused elsewhere, you miss what's in front of you?"

Youngjae remained quiet. He didn't know how to answer that. The question tugged at his heart, echoing something Nayeon had said to him not too long ago.

"I'm going to be late if I don't leave now." 

Not answering the question, Youngjae went through the door and left.

As he heard the door slam, Daehyun stared down at his now half empty cup of coffee. “I think I have.”

* * *

 

Nayeon impatiently bounced up and down as she surveyed the halls through the glass windows. Everyone was running up and down, nearly colliding with each other. It was a bit dramatic honestly, but the fate of many projects were at stake in tomorrow's demo presentation. 

"Ohhh, where is he?" Nayeon whined.

The door opened, causing Nayeon to jump, only to frown to see it was only Youngjae.

"You look disappointed." he said to her, draping his jacket over his chair. 

"The boss isn't here."

"Boss? You mean...?"

She nodded anxiously.

Frustrated, Youngjae dug his pockets, pulling out his phone. "Dammit..."

* * *

 

Himchan rolled on his back, awaking from a rather deep sleep. He sat up, rubbing his eyes as the annoying ring of his phone pierced his ears. Swiping it from his nightstand, he answered. "Yeah?"

"Hyung! Why the hell aren't you over here yet?!"

Himchan winced, pulling the phone from his ear and seething at the loud volume of Youngjae's voice. He slowly brought it back. "Quit yelling, what is wrong with you?"

"Hyung, it's demo day. We have to compile it right now to get it ready for tomorrow. You need to get here before--"

That's when it clicked.

"I'm on my way!"

Himchan hung up, jumping out of bed and quickly throwing his work clothes on. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. He was in such a deep sleep his alarm must've not gotten through to him. His car screeched as he took off to get to work in record time. Pulling into a parking space, he noticed Hyoseong frantically running across the street. 

"Is she late?" he questioned. That seemed unlike her. Then again, he shouldn't talk.

Himchan speedily made his way down the hall, adjusting his tie on the way. He immediately halted at the sound of a demanding voice. "Director Kim!"

"Psy--ah, Mr. Park, good morning!"

Standing before him was none other than  _the_ boss himself, everyone's boss, CEO Park Jaesang. He eyed him carefully, noticing Himchan's messy hair and wrinkled clothes. "Did you just arrive?"

"I, well--"

"Give your submission page to Secretary Jun in the next 5 minutes."

With that, he walked on, looking into other offices. Himchan exhaled a breath of relief, falling back against the wall and running his fingers through his hair.

Hyoseong was making her way down the hall, hoping to slip in unnoticed. 

"Hyoseong."

The sound of her name caused her to halt in panic.

"Here."

It was just Himchan, handing her a slip of paper. It contained all the information on his team's project. She nodded, "I'll file this right away."


End file.
